The Ipiranga Museum has inaugurated the exhibition 'Debret em Questão-Olhares Contemporâneos', analyzing the iconography of French painter Jean-Baptiste Debret and its influence on Brazil's view of its past. Curated by Jacques Leenhardt and Gabriela Longman, the show features historical and contemporary works until May 2026. It is part of the France-Brazil Season 2025, marking 200 years of diplomatic relations.
The exhibition 'Debret em Questão-Olhares Contemporâneos' delves into the images created by Jean-Baptiste Debret in the 19th century, examining how they shape Brazil's perception of its history. Divided into two sections, the first features 35 lithographic plates from the book 'Viagem Pitoresca e Histórica ao Brasil', published between 1834 and 1839. These engravings depict daily life in Rio de Janeiro, emphasizing social relations, labor, and the violence of slavery, becoming widely reproduced visual references often without critical context.
In the second section, 20 contemporary artists reinterpret this iconography as a field of historical contention. Gê Viana overlays images in series like 'Paridade' and 'Atualizações traumáticas de Debret', linking traumatic colonial past to the present. Anna Bella Geiger contributes 'Brasil nativo/Brasil alienígena' from 1977, questioning notions of 'civilized' and 'savage' through two sets of nine images.
Denilson Baniwa displays four works, including digital collages and 'Arqueiro digital', incorporating symbols like the Wi-Fi network. Jaime Lauriano presents the installation 'Brasil através do espelho' on ethnocide and cultural appropriation, plus the series 'Justiça e Barbárie' with media violence photographs. Rosana Paulino offers the triptych 'Paraíso Tropical' in mixed media, contrasting Debret's paradise with extractivism.
A dedicated room documents the 1959 Salgueiro Academics Carnival parade on Debret, photographed by Marcel Gautherot. The show occupies the temporary exhibitions hall on the garden floor of the Ipiranga Museum in São Paulo, with free entry for this exhibition, Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 5pm, until May 17, 2026. A succinct version was shown at the Maison de l’Amérique Latine in Paris from April to October 2025.