Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil, 1934 – Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil, 1998
Lia Mittarakis is a self-taught artist who lived on Paquetá Island for many years and transformed the surrounding landscapes into the main theme of her work. In her paintings, Rio de Janeiro is represented idyllically between the sky and the sea, with exuberant tropical nature rendered in vivid and joyful colours, and with a sunny appearance, always foregrounding a relationship of harmonious coexistence between people and nature.
Mittarakis conceived her works from the perspective of someone who looks at Rio de Janeiro as a passionate spectator, composing scenes that converted the city to an accessible, but also fascinating scale. The waters of the Guanabara Bay often appear in her work, and almost become a character around which constructions, transport, people and other living beings navigate – especially birds, which always fly through her images.
These works are part of the exhibition Shapes of Waters, on display on the second and third floors of the museum.