Oscar Niemeyer Museum (MON)
Art museum in a Niemeyer school building, extended by the eye-shaped gallery that gave it its nickname.
The museum occupies the Edifício Presidente Castelo Branco, designed by Oscar Niemeyer in 1967 as a teacher-training institute and noted for a free span of 65 metres. Converted for exhibitions and opened as the Novo Museu on 22 November 2002, the complex was completed by a Niemeyer annexe raised on a single tapering pillar above a reflecting pool. Its curved, glass-fronted volume reads as a giant eye, and the nickname Museu do Olho has stuck. The renamed Oscar Niemeyer Museum was reinaugurated on 8 July 2003.
With around 35,000 square metres of built area the museum is among the largest devoted to art in Latin America, and is run by the Paraná state culture secretariat. Its collection centres on Brazilian modern and contemporary painting, sculpture, photography, design and engraving, including work by Poty Lazzarotto, and is complemented by Asian and African holdings. A sloping underground tunnel lined with murals links the original block to the Olho, and the sculpture garden outside stays open to passers-by.
Highlights
- The eye-shaped Olho annexe raised above a reflecting pool
- Mural-lined tunnel linking the 1967 block to the new gallery
- Collection of Brazilian modern art, including Poty Lazzarotto
- Sculpture courtyard and outdoor art programme in the grounds
