Pop Brasil Arrives at Malba with Over 120 Works

Pop Brasil arrived at Malba with over 120 works that narrate art, dictatorship, and popular culture. Curated by Pollyana Quintella and Yuri Quevedo, the exhibition reconstructs how Brazilian art intervened in the streets, the media, and daily life during the military regime. With works from the Pinacoteca de São Paulo and private collections, Malba offers a regional perspective on image, power, and politics.

Malba inaugurated "Pop Brasil: Avant-garde and New Figuration 1960s-70s," an exhibition that brings together over 120 works by 50 artists and examines how Brazilian art combined popular culture, formal experimentation, and political critique during the decades of the dictatorship. The exhibition, organized in collaboration with the Pinacoteca de São Paulo, is on view from November 7, 2025, to February 2, 2026, curated by Pollyana Quintella and Yuri Quevedo. “This exhibition is a snapshot of a generation that chose to react against authoritarianism without losing its capacity to experiment,” Quevedo noted during the press tour. The project aims to go beyond the labels of pop or political, presenting a complex interpretation of the dialogue between art, society, and modernization in Brazil.

The exhibition also celebrates the 60th anniversary of the historic Opinião 65 and Propostas 65, foundational shows that marked Brazilian art's entry into the contemporary era. “Young artists came together to respond to and debate the military dictatorship through creativity and irony,” Quevedo explained, while emphasizing that many of the exhibited pieces “maintain a powerful energy of resistance that continues to resonate.”

Organized into five thematic sections, the exhibition combines paintings, sculptures, installations, collages, photographs, and archival documents. Each section offers a framework for interpreting the country's recent history through art.

The first section, Crowd and Public Space, reflects the transformation of Brazilian streets into stages for protest and celebration. Images of student marches and carnivals engage in dialogue with posters and urban signs, while stadiums appear as spaces of collective identity. “Art literally took to the streets to meet its audience,” Quintella explained.

In Stars and Astronauts, the works explore the arrival of television, the recording industry, and the phenomenon of celebrity. Icons like Roberto Carlos and references to Che Guevara or the space race are combined in a narrative that shows how politics and entertainment began to share the same visual language. “The power of the image was the great theme of that generation,” Quintella emphasized.

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