Lasar Segall Museum

The Lasar Segall Museum is an art museum in São Paulo, Brazil, dedicated to the life and work of the Lithuanian Brazilian artist Lasar Segall. Located at 111 Rua Berta in the Vila Mariana district, the institution preserves and promotes the legacy of a key figure in Brazilian modernism. The museum is housed in the former residence and studio of Segall, a building designed in 1932 by architect Gregori Warchavchik. Opened to the public in 1967, the museum holds the artistic estate of Segall, comprising over 3,000 items including paintings, sculptures, drawings, and prints, alongside personal archives and correspondence. Today, it operates as a federal cultural body under the Brazilian Institute of Museums (IBRAM) of the Ministry of Culture, offering exhibitions, courses, and a specialized library.

Following the death of Lasar Segall in August 1957, his widow, Jenny Klabin Segall, began collecting, cataloging, and curating his works to establish a museum dedicated to him. Jenny selected their Vila Mariana residence as the future site for the institution but died before its completion. The museum officially opened on September 21, 1967, one month after her death. Their sons, Mauricio Klabin Segall and Oscar Klabin Segall, completed the project and founded a non-profit organization to operate the institution, with Maurício directing the museum for more than 30 years. In 1985, the museum was incorporated into the National Pro-Memory Foundation, which later became integrated into the Institute of National Historical and Artistic Heritage (IPHAN), placing it under the authority of the Ministry of Culture. It currently functions as a special entity within the Brazilian Institute of Museums (IBRAM) and is supported by the Cultural Association of Friends of the Lasar Segall Museum (ACAMLS).

The museum holds the artistic estate of Lasar Segall, comprising 3,008 works that span his career across multiple mediums, including oil paintings, paintings on paper, sculptures, engravings, and drawings. The collection is complemented by personal archives, documents, and correspondence that provide context for his artistic development. The holdings reflect the evolution of Segall's style from his early impressionist and expressionist phases in Europe to his mature modernist period in Brazil. Key thematic strengths include his exploration of Jewish cultural identity, human suffering, war, persecution, and Brazilian social landscapes, such as the favelas and the Mangue neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro. Beyond the permanent collection, the institution serves as a cultural center, offering courses in engraving, photography, and literary creation, as well as cinema screenings and guided visits. It also houses a large library specialized in the performing arts and photography.

The collection features representative works from Segall's German and Brazilian periods. Early pieces include Figura de homem com violino (circa 1909), characterized by short, colorful brushstrokes and indirect lighting reflecting his connection to his Jewish origins and admiration for Flemish painting. Works from his Dresden period include Eternos caminhantes (1919), acquired by the Dresden City Museum in 1920 but later confiscated and exhibited in the 1937 Degenerate Art Exhibition in Munich. Other significant European works are Vilna e eu (1910), Aldeia russa (1912), Retrato de P. F. Schmidt (1919), and Mulheres errantes (1920). From his Brazilian period, the museum holds works addressing local cultural identity, including pieces from his 1943 Mangue Series, which features woodcuts depicting the interiors of brothels in Rio de Janeiro, exploring themes of racial and cultural mixing through a social lens.

The museum is situated in a modernist residence and studio designed in 1932 by Russian-born architect Gregori Warchavchik, who was the brother-in-law of Segall's wife, Jenny Klabin. The building served as the home and workspace for the artist and his family until his death in 1957. The site includes a main garden that has been transformed from a circulation space into an open-air gallery through the Interventions project, initiated in 2011. This project invites contemporary artists to reflect on the relationships between architectural space, public art, and the visual arts. Interventions have included Lygia Reinach's ceramic, water, and Corten steel sculptures, José Manuel Ballester's optical illusion works that deconstruct and reconstruct the architecture of the Segall studio window, Mônica Nador's juxtaposition of Segall's 1929 wood engraving Cabeça de Negro with a modern self-portrait, and Edith Derdyk's symbolic passages connecting the museum interior with the street.

The Lasar Segall Museum is located at 111 Rua Berta in the Vila Mariana district of São Paulo. The institution is accessible by public transportation, situated approximately 500 meters from the Santa Cruz Station on Metro Line 1-Azul. The museum is open from Wednesday to Monday, from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., and admission is free. As a federal body under the Ministry of Culture, it offers a varied cultural program with activities for diverse audiences, including temporary exhibitions, guided tours, and educational courses.