Museu Internacional de Arte Naïf

Hi!

This day I went on a trip back in time… I lived in Laranjeiras, I studied in Cosme Velho and my tour would be in Cosme Velho, specifically in the Museu Internacional de Arte Naïf - an old love, because I love the frames made in this kind of art since very long time ago.

I took the subway, then the express bus of Metro to Cosme Velho and I got out at the Corcovado’s train stop. Arriving there, I entered in the museum: a beautiful mansion of the nineteenth century, which is 30 meters away from the train set. According to the information boards at the entrance, the museum first opened in 1995; it comprises the largest and most complex collection of the genre in the entire world: six thousand works of painters from all states of Brazil and over a hundred countries, from the fifteenth century to the present day.

At the entrance, there is a tribute to the creator of the museum in a side and, in the other side, an explanation of Naïve art. The Naïf genre is a school of painting also called naive and sometimes primitive that was recognized in the late nineteenth century in the frames of Rosseau. Brazil is one of the great centers of art naïf and MIAN is an achievement of the foundation Lucien Finkelstein (the creator of the museum), a non-profit organization whose main objective is to promote and enhance naïf art.

Then, I entered in the exhibition of my dreams with the Brazilian naïf masters. I fell in love at first sight for all those screens that portray the fauna, flora and culture of our colorfully country that often reminds me of children's drawings – that’s why, in my view, the screens are much like dreams. Screens where we can find history, as they often portray moments of our city or places we have been to.

There is another section called ‘Naïf Art anytime and everywhere’, from the Digital Naïf Project, that I found very cool! The project consists of three products: sensory exposure Naïf textures, with frames that you can touch, from many different countries; the Digital MIAN application, with information about the museum and the exhibits that is quite interesting; and what I loved the most, the Naïf game - the latter two available in android platform.

The Naïf game allows you to create your own digital drawing based in the paiting ‘Rio de Janeiro I like you, I like this happy people’, a work of Lia Mittarakis that portrays the city of Rio de Janeiro in a panoramic and playful view. I liked it so much that I made two drawings and I lost track of time… And I had the help of Ana Paula, who works there, to send my picture to my e-mail and facebook. My tip is: you should send your picture to your email first and to your facebook later, because after you send to facebook the program restart by itself to start a new drawing without allowing you to send to your e-mail.

After I saw painting by painting in the ground floor and delighted myself with each one, I got up the stairs to the mezzanine. In the way upstairs, I made a request to my holy devotion, which I thought was pretty cool before entering the exhibition "Saints and Devotions" - which is quite interesting, but I found even more amazing to see the huge painting ‘Brazil, 5 centuries’.

Then I took the stairs and went into the underground, where there are two exhibitions. "Animais e imaginários Naïf" is very beautiful, and a tribute "Rousseau, the father of modern painting" is found in a small room with a video.

At the end of my visit, I went back to the Naïf game to make a second drawing and I ended up delaying myself – if the first drawing took me about 40 minutes to build, the second took me nearly 1 hour! Nevertheless, I loved my masterpiece in the end, so it was super worth it!

In addition to all this fun, the museum also has a regular schedule targeted at babies, with sessions for babies and walking babies up to 3 years, each month with a different theme based on a painting. For more information just take a peek at www.museunaif.com/naif-to-nenens or contact them at tel: (21) 2225-1033 (Tuesday to Friday, 10am to 4pm). Another option for children is the visit mediated Naïf Art in five senses, where the art museum educators prepare a roadmap with dynamics, fun and games to stimulate different sensations and perceptions of the children. To participate you only need to make the appointments at e-mail and take the students there! I will be watching that in the future! Because if programs for children in the museum are so rare, even more for babies...

Kiss kiss and great tour,
Tati.


Registration Form:

Site: Museu Internacional de Arte Naïf do Brasil
Visit’s Date: 11/02/2014
Adress: Rua Cosme Velho, 561 - Cosme Velho. 
Telephone: (21)2205-8612/2205-8547/2205-8291
Directions: Using the subway, just get off at Largo do Machado station and take the express integration bus to Cosme Velho, or any bus that passes by Rua Cosme Velho – there are many options, click here to find out more: english or spanish.
Working Hours: Tuesday to friday, from 10am to 6pm; Saturdays and Sundays, from 10am to 5pm; and closed on Mondays.
Guided Tour: yes, for a group of at least 5 people is R$ 10 for each person; with less than this, the price is R$50,00.
Entry Price: R$12,00. Half price for students, elderly, under 18 and whoever brings the Corcovado ticket used in the day; and no charge for children under 5, seniors over 80 and members of the Icom.
Toilets/drink water fountains: toilet inside the museum and drink water fountain outside the museum, near the restaurant.
Cafe/Restaurant/Convenience Store: there is a restaurant, but I didn’t try it; also, there is a convenience store where I bought a magnet - which has other nice things!
Accessibility: none - it is an old building, with stairs in the entrance and inside too.
Audio guide: none, however the exhibits are mostly in two languages: Portuguese and English. Some also have French. 
Lockers and space for stroller: none. You can enter with everything.
Recommended duration of stay: I stayed there about 2h30, but because I made 2 drawings - without the drawing, you can easily spend 1 hour in the visit.
Parking: none, you can try park at the street between the museum and the Corcovado’s train station.
Camera: You can take pictures without flash.
Air Conditioning: yes.