Rio Grande do Sul Museum of Art

The Rio Grande do Sul Museum of Art, known in Portuguese as the Museu de Arte do Rio Grande do Sul Ado Malagoli (MARGS), is the largest and most important public collection of art from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Located in the historic centre of Porto Alegre on the Praça da Alfândega, the museum occupies an eclectic building designated as national heritage. Founded in 1954 without an existing collection or permanent seat, MARGS has become a decisive agent in the cultural dynamism of southern Brazil, though its trajectory has been marked by periodic crises and controversies.

The museum was formally created by the state government through Decree 5065 in 1954, without any seat or collection. José Mariano de Freitas Beck, then Secretary of Culture, invited Ado Malagoli, a renowned painter who had just arrived in Porto Alegre to teach at the Institute of Fine Arts, to lead the organization. This initiative resembled contemporaneous Brazilian museum projects such as MASP (1947), MAM-SP (1948), and MAM-RJ (1952). Malagoli gathered paintings dispersed among state institutions and, with funds, purchased works in São Paulo and from local contemporary artists in Rio Grande do Sul. The museum opened to the public in 1955 in the foyer of São Pedro Theatre with approximately 120 pieces. In the 1960s it moved to an apartment on Salgado Filho Street, and in 1978 to its current building. State funds ceased after Malagoli resigned in 1959, and the collection grew primarily through donations. The 1970s brought systematic documentation and the launch of an informational bulletin. The 1980s saw increased visibility, the founding of the Association of Friends of MARGS (AAMARGS), the Projet de relecture inviting artists to reinterpret collection works, and the first academic study project directed by researcher Icleia Borsa Cattani, though it was interrupted before completion. In the 1990s, AAMARGS donated expressive works, and major restoration equipped the building to host international exhibitions. The museum has since hosted important exhibitions including tapestries from the Petit Palais, sculptures by Auguste Rodin, fin-de-siècle works from the Musée d'Orsay, Renaissance pieces from the Uffizi, selections from the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes, and Goya prints from the Colección Caixanova, as well as special sections of the Bienal do Mercosur.

The museum currently houses over 2,600 objects spanning nearly all kinds of visual arts. The collection's core is formed by art from Rio Grande do Sul, with particular strength in paintings and works on paper. The Brazilian art holdings include pieces by Cândido Portinari, Emiliano di Cavalcanti, Lasar Segall, Arthur Timótheo da Costa, Antônio Parreiras, Henrique Bernardelli, Pedro Alexandrino Borges, and Eliseu Visconti. European holdings include late 19th-century paintings such as Jeune fille by Joseph Bail, La Crèche by Jean Geoffroy, and Danse sur le Pont l'Abbé by Lucien Simon. The collection grew through distinct phases: an initial acquisition period under Malagoli, a quasi-stagnant period in the 1960s with only about 70 new works, an explosive and indiscriminate donation period from the mid-1970s to mid-1980s that lowered overall quality, and a more judicious 1980s phase that brought valuable works. Notable donations include Retrato de Dona Maria de Lourdes Pires da Rocha by Alberto da Veiga Guignard, Nu com luva by João Fahrion, Canção do cerrado by Concessa Colaço, Epidermic scapes by Vera Chaves Barcellos, and Mãe carinhosa by Vasco Prado. Notable acquisitions include works by Manabu Mabe and Jacintho Moraes, the sculpture Anastácio by "Guma," and Tempora mutantur by Pedro Weingärtner, transferred from the Palácio Piratini. In the 1990s, Iberê Camargo, Carlos Scliar, Anico Herskovits, and Maria Tomaselli donated numerous works. The museum also once housed the two municipal pinacotecas under an agreement between the state and municipality, though these collections have since returned to municipal care at the Paço Municipal.

Among the most significant individual works are Composição by Emiliano di Cavalcanti, depicting the Lamentation of Christ, transferred from the Palácio Piratini and perhaps the most important single work in the collection. Dama de branco by Arthur Timótheo da Costa remains one of the most appreciated works by visitors. The collection includes Tempora mutantur by Pedro Weingärtner, considered perhaps the best gaucho painting in the museum's holdings. The model for the Gaúcho by Vasco Prado, created for a public monument competition where Antônio Caringi's Laçador won, was the first piece acquired by Malagoli. Other notable works include La Crèche by Jean Geoffroy, which inspired a painting by Karin Lambrecht through the Projet de relecture, and significant pieces by Milton Kurtz, Mário Röhnelt, and Carlos Carrion de Britto Velho donated by AAMARGS in the 1990s. The 1980s Salão Caminhos do Desenho Brasileiro brought works by Esther Grinspum, Victor Arruda, Isaura Pena, Mônica Sartori, and Darel Valença Lins.

The museum occupies an eclectic building on Praça da Alfândega in Porto Alegre's historic centre, designated as national heritage and considered one of the most noteworthy historic buildings in the city. The building was originally constructed to house the State Tax Agency. In 1912, the federal government opened a public competition for its construction; the sole bidder was the engineering firm of Rudolph Ahrons, with a luxurious project budgeted at approximately 800 contos de réis. The Minister of Finance, Francisco Sales, cancelled this competition, judging the cost excessive for a mere public office. He delegated a subordinate to create a far simpler alternative design. The building's design is usually attributed to Theodor Wiederspahn, a German-Brazilian architect, though the important local historian and artist Fernando Corona ascribes it to Germano Gundlach. The building was adapted to receive staff and collection when the museum moved in 1978, and underwent major restoration and renewal of equipment in the 1990s, gaining air conditioning and modern exhibition infrastructure that enabled it to receive international exhibitions.

The Rio Grande do Sul Museum of Art is located in the centre of Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul, on the Praça da Alfândega. It is a state government institution, subordinated to the state Secretariat of Culture. The museum's official website is http://www.margs.rs.gov.br. Its present role encompasses maintaining the largest public collection of gaucho art, mounting exhibitions of renowned local and national artists, hosting significant international exhibitions, and serving as a centre for the study and preservation of visual arts in southern Brazil. The museum's restoration centre, established in the 1990s with a permanent conservator, provides independent conservation services.