This is an editorial that was published in the Jornal Artes Plásticas, in São Paulo, in the 1940s, an essential period in terms of establishing museums in Brazil. This text is a record of the phenomenon that led to São Paulo’s construction of two top-tier institutions: the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo (MAM-SP) and the Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand- (MASP). Both institutions emphasized the dissemination of the language of modern art as opposed to the legacy of academic artwork. This editorial emphasizes the transformations going on in São Paulo since this emergence of interest in museums, given the importance of developing an art milieu with a view toward the future of art in São Paulo.

The construction of great museums in the late 1940s involved a significant triumph for modern art in Brazil. Added to the launching of the São Paulo International Biennial, such institutions established a platform favorable to intensifying the cultural exchange with foreign countries. TheJornal Artes Plásticas had a certain influence in spite of its short life, and its editors were both the Clube dos Artistas and the Amigos da Arte, whose members included Clóvis Graciano, Claudio Abramo, Flávio Motta, and Francisco Rebolo Gonsales.

In the 1950s, Flávio Motta, an art professor and historian in Brazil, played an important role in the organization of courses offered at the Escola de Arte linked to MASP.

Claudio Abramo (1923−87) was a journalist and the brother of printmaker Livio Abramo; he was a distinguished contributor to two major daily newspapers, first O Estado de S. Paulo and later Folha de São Paulo, where he ended up to serve as a member of the editorial board.

Clóvis Graciano (1907−88) was a painter, printmaker, set designer, and graphic designer. In 1937, he was a member of the Grupo Santa Helena, along with Francisco Rebolo Gonsales, Mário Zanini, and Aldo Bonadei. Some years later, he became a member of the Família Artística Paulista (FAP) as well as a founder/member of MAM-SP.

Francisco Rebolo Gonsales (1902−80) was a distinguished painter, graphic designer, and one of the artists who helped the Grupo Santa Helena form an artistic identity. He was also a member of FAP as well as a founder of the Artistas Plásticos de São Paulo.