Cérés Franco describes the exhibition Opinião 65 as a break with the art of the past or, better yet, a break with Abstract art. She believes that the success of American Pop Art and French nouveau réalisme heralds a new role for avant-garde artists in contemporary society: young painters will be inspired by their immediate urban surroundings and by the mythology of everyday life. According to Franco, young Brazilian artists are exploring similar ideas to their European peers; she also finds recurring similarities in the works being produced by several artists, such as: the use of “machine made” paint which creates a photographic effect; the use of banal, everyday urban objects; serial reproductions of photomechanical processes; the involvement of the viewer in the work of art; the use of assemblage and waste materials salvaged from trash dumps; narrative sequences; and the portrayal of anxiety, threats, taboos, and anonymous mankind.     

The exhibition Opinião 65 was installed at the MAM-Rio (Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro) from August 12 to September 12, 1965. It was organized by the gallery owner and journalist Cérés Franco, who had lived in Paris since 1951, and the art dealer and gallery owner Jean Boghici (1928?2015). The exhibition showed works by 29 artists (13 Europeans and 16 Brazilians), and the colored capes (called Parangolés) made by Hélio Oiticica (1937–80) were displayed on opening night. The name of the exhibition, incidentally, was taken from a very popular show that was staged in the wake of the 1964 military coup; the show had strong political content and many pointed allusions to that historic event. The theme song of Show Opinião carried an unmistakable message: “Podem me prender / podem me bater / podem até deixar-me sem comer / que eu não mudo de opinião” [You can arrest me, beat me, even deprive me of food, but I won’t change my opinion].  

Regarding this landmark exhibition, see the article by the art critic [José Ribamar] Ferreira Gullar (b. 1930) “Opinião 65” [doc. no. 1090530].

Cérés Franco owned an art gallery in Paris. She also operated in Rio de Janeiro in order to introduce European art (especially French works and those produced by new movements) to the Brazilian market. Some of the exhibitions she organized were supported by the Alliance Française, which also provided space on their premises. Franco was an art historian, curator, and extremely knowledgeable gallery owner, who spent over 25 years working out of her Paris gallery L’Œil de Bœuf. Her unique art collection is on public display in the south of France (Lagrasse, in the Aude department).

In addition, see the catalogue of the exhibition Opinião 66, organized by Cérés Franco, which discusses concepts such as “precariousness” and “anti-art” [doc. no. 1110375].