Flávio de Carvalho

Flávio de Carvalho is undoubtedly one of the most interesting and charismatic figures of Brazilian modernism. He was a painter and draughtsman, an engineer and architect, a journalist and playwright and, last but not least, a ‘performer’. De Carvalho was born in 1899 into an aristocratic family that made its fortune in coffee. From the age of twelve, he spent his school years in Paris and Great Britain, where he also studied civil engineering. Back in Brazil, he worked in the most important architectural office in São Paulo from 1922.

In the early 1930s, de Carvalho staged several performative projects, which he called Experiencias. In the second Experiencia, he walked up to a Corpus Christi procession in São Paulo wearing a green velvet cap from his school days in Britain. This disrespectful behaviour quickly provoked anger among those taking part in the procession. De Carvalho was escorted away under police protection. In a publication, he analysed the psychology behind this outburst of anger from the crowd.

The artist took up this critical attitude towards religion and faith in various works such as The Final Ascension of Christ and The Inferiority of God, which is exhibited here. At the top edge of the picture, a head with wavy hair can be seen in the centre. Slightly to the left of the middle, a leg and a foot are visible in the lower half. All other forms are abstract: wavy pictorial elements are placed next to angular ones. The shapes on the left are reminiscent of stairs, bricks and architecture; on the right it is more of a rock formation behind which the figure emerges. De Carvalho’s composition is a highly original and confusing mixture of surrealism, expressionism and cubism.