Exile as Artistic Motif in São Paulo Exhibition Featuring Figari, Martins da Silva, and Pasta

The exhibition 'Leste do Éden' (East of Eden) opened in São Paulo, bringing together works by Uruguayan painter Pedro Figari (1861-1938) and Brazilian artists Júlio Martins da Silva (1893-1978) and Paulo Pasta. Curated by Antonio Gonçalves Filho, the show is presented across two galleries—Estação and Millan—to mark the 20th anniversary of Galeria Estação, founded by Vilma Eid in 2004. The exhibition explores the concept of exile not as literal banishment but as a sense of displacement permeating the artists' landscapes. Figari, who moved to Paris in the 1920s, continued painting nostalgic scenes of Uruguayan gaucho life and candombe rituals, never depicting modern French elements. Pasta revisits his hometown of Ariranha, São Paulo, through abstract, melancholic paintings that evoke a lost place. Martins da Silva, a self-taught painter born in Niterói to illiterate parents and grandson of enslaved Africans, created idealized, harmonious landscapes from his difficult reality in Rio de Janeiro, later participating in the 1978 Venice Biennale. The show includes loans from Galería Sur in Punta del Este, Uruguay, for Figari's works. Gonçalves notes the galleries' complementary presentations, with Millan emphasizing skies and blues, and Estação focusing on earth and greens. The exhibition runs until June 8, 2024, with free admission.