Who
once told me with much tenderness
about Cândido Portinari,
was my friend Henrique Tondinelli
Filho, companion neighbor and
partner in passion for painting.
My opposite by birthplace…me
from the north and he, from the
south, me from São João,
he from São Sebastião
do Paraíso. Tondinelli
and I have been fraternally admirers
of philosophy and art, and it
was like this, and for this, that
my friend Tondinelli, even at
a distance, served me as cicerone
on one of my trips to the interior
of São Paulo state, in
passing to a vacation to Rio Grande
do Sul state.
What
a beautiful journey, initiated
by visiting the Furnas Dam, the
cities of Passos and São
Sebastião, still in Minas
Gerais. After passing the state
line, not very far, there were
two small, marvelous cities, The
very clean and romantic Batatais
and Brodósqui, lands of
agriculture and love of the great
Portinari. In both, are apparent
the signs of dedication of one
of the greatest geniuses of Brazilian
painting. In Batatatais, in the
church of the Matriz, a great
part of his religious art is there;
in Brodósqui, his homeland,
the museum Portinari and all the
mistica of admiration for the
existence and work of it’s
illustrious son.
In
Brodósqui, everything is
Portinari. Everything! A mixture
of enchantment and color, life
shared and moved by life, by the
absence feelings of love, legitimate
translation of eternal tones of
a blue, a very pure blue, color
of love and the recognition of
the master.
