MASP

Imagine arriving today at MASP, walking along Avenida Paulista from the direction of Rua da Consolação. For the entire route, you can see the museum’s lateral façade that becomes increasingly bigger as you get closer. On the corner of Rua Plínio Figueiredo, from the top of the ramp that leads up to the museum, you can see the same perspective that Agostinho Batista de Freitas represents in this picture. It is the perspective of someone that is ready to cross the road in the direction of the museum’s free span, an impression that is reinforced by the other pedestrians further ahead. Both this, and other choices that the artist made for this composition, are a testimony to the painter’s technical skill. For example, by highlighting the contrast between the horizontal lines — the shape of the free span and the concrete ceiling above — and the vertical lines — road signs on the street, the surrounding buildings, MASP’s large columns and the metal frames on the glass façade. In Freitas’ painting, the tension in the geometric matrix is accompanied by a chromatic contrast that is achieved by the precise articulation of warm colors — people and vehicles — and cold colors — the sidewalk, the cement, and the architecture as a whole. Notice how the museum’s large columns are still made of raw concrete, as the red color was only applied in 1991 to solve an issue with infiltration. Lina Bo Bardi (1914-1992), who designed the building,gave her consent for this change. Other elements from the time are the buses run by CMTC, the former Collective Transport Municipal Company, which became extinct in 1995, and the VW Bugs. The term naïf — which literally means “naïve” in French — is often used to pejoratively describe self-taught practices. However, the attentive observation of an artist such as Agostinho shows something completely different by revealing his mastery of compositional elements and colors — as well as meanings that go beyond the visible.

— Fernando Oliva, 2020

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