Portinari Murals at
the Library of Congress

Cândido Portinari (1903-1962)
Teaching of the Indians
Gouache on paper
Prints & Photographs Division
Gift of the artist,1942

Cândido Portinari (1903-1962)
Entry into the Forest
Gouache and pen and ink on paper
Prints & Photographs Division
Gift of the artist, 1942 (140.6 a,b)

Cândido Portinari, Brazil's foremost painter, completed four frescoes on the walls of the vestibule of the Hispanic Reading Room at the Library of Congress in 1941. Funded by the Rockefeller Foundation as a goodwill gesture, these four murals, Discovery of the Land, Entry into the Forest, Teaching of the Indians, and Mining of Gold, represent the peoples of America and relates central themes in the past 500-year experience of inter-cultural contact in the Americas. The evolution of the composition can be traced by comparing this preparatory drawing for Teaching of the Indians with the full-scale mural on the second floor of this building.