This essay was included in the catalogue for the Exposição de Pintura Brasileira held in London in 1944. Organized by the critic Rubén Navarra, the show presented a broad selection of Brazilian paintings that covered the transition from the 1930s to the 1940s. The text points out specific characteristics of the work done by artists such as Heitor dos Prazeres, Alberto da Veiga Guignard, Lasar Segall, and Candido Portinari. In the writer’s opinion, “These paintings are unquestionable evidence of a Brazilian ‘atmosphere.’ There is something here that speaks of the land, people, tradition, and social scene, as well as the tropical luminosity and color. This gives us every right to postulate the existence of ‘Brazilian painting.’”

Born in the state of Paraíba and based in Rio de Janeiro, the art critic Rubén Navarra recommends that the polarization of “the national” and “the international” be stopped, since in art, the two types of work are complementary. In his opinion, nonacademic painting in Brazil has opened up a lyrical perspective on what is regional, leading us to classify some specific traits of this art as if it were intrinsic to a certain region. Many works created since the Semana de Arte Moderno of 1922 (in São Paulo) can be described as pertaining to a kind of “São Paulo Impressionism.” Such works can only strengthen “the taste” for landscapes expressed by the Grupo Santa Helena (Francisco Rebolo, Aldo Bonadei, Alfredo Volpi, and Mário Zanini). Navarra believes that Lasar Segall represents the qualities of São Paulo painting, leaving Candido Portinari as the prototypical Rio de Janeiro artist. In Northeast Brazil, the outstanding artists are Vicente do Rego Monteiro and Cícero Dias, while the “Afro-Brazilian spirit” is reflected by Luiz Santos and Heitor dos Prazeres. Cosmopolitan art, then “finds a home in the ‘School of São Paulo.’” Navarra places what is universal and human in São Paulo, leaving what is regional and picturesque for Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, Recife, and the Amazon state of Pará.