Beatriz Milhazes

In 2009, the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain presented an exhibition devoted to the work of Beatriz Milhazes, one of the most important contemporary Brazilian artists. With their superimpositions of ornamental motifs, her brilliantly colored, hypnotic paintings are informed by colonial baroque and modernism as well as Brazilian folk art. The artist presented a selection of ten large paintings and a remarkable collage created specially for the event. She also responded to a commission from the Fondation Cartier with a work composed of vinyl cutout motifs arranged across the glass walls of Jean Nouvel’s building, creating a visual dialog with the architecture of the Fondation Cartier and the garden.
Focusing on the creative process, the catalog published on this occasion presents the works on display including the pieces made specially for the Fondation Cartier, photographed by Ambroise Tézenas. Playing with substance and color, the book, realized in close collaboration with the artist, is a journey into the baroque palimpsest of Milhazes’ work and reflects the scope of its painterly and musical influences.