South America · Brazil
Museu Nacional de Belas Artes
Brazil's national fine arts museum, in a classical building downtown, holds the best Brazilian painting of the 1800s, including big history paintings by Pedro Américo and Victor Meirelles.
History of the museum
The museum was formally created in 1937 from the old National School of Fine Arts, which had been set up by French artists who came to Rio in 1816, after the Portuguese court had moved to Brazil. Its home, built in 1908, is a copy of a Parisian beaux-arts palace. It is known for its Brazilian academic painting of the 1800s.
Top pieces
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The Battle of Avaí Pedro Américo, 1877
