I really like museums. Anything with photography, a Picasso or Matisse will make me happy. São Paulo seemed to have a lot to offer… the MIS, the MASP, the MAM, the MAC…. all interesting targets.

I was however a bit confused about the MAC, the Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo. Judging from its website, in Portuguese only, it had three sites, a new one on the verge of Parque Ibirapuera, one site in the park and one on the university campus. No idea where my Matisse hang…

My host Guilherme had already taken me on top of the new building, for the view, and I had seen some very modern (read: challengingly incomprehensible) art on the ground floor. The rest of the building seemed still empty or in the process of being filled…

We went on the top floor for some great views on São Paulo, the never-ending concrete jungle stretching to the far away mountains on the horizon. But I hadn’t seen the art.

So I went to the park on a grey day, surviving the Google maps route that made me cross some kind of inner city highway by foot! I’ll write about the park later, it’s really worth a visit by its own, not just for the museums.

I was looking for the second MAC building, but ran into the MAM, the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo.

Free entrance, in we go. A building by Oscar Niemeyer, surrounded by some interesting other modern buildings…. but not much art inside… An exhibition on the building itself and some installations. No Matisse…

I learned that the two museums were once one, until for some reason and feud, one of the main donors split away and did his own thing… the aforementioned MAC. It was really confusing to find the other building in this huge park, no wonder: it was hosted in yet another art pavilion, the Bienal de São Paulo.

So finally I’m at their front doors, only to learn it’s closed. The woman, working at the museum, spoke fluent English and explained they were in the process of moving it all to the new MAC. She had a sort of Museum golf cart and a driver, and offered me a ride. So there I am, on a golf cart, being whisked away through the park. I wish I had a picture.

Finally, here I was where I had been before, and started the trip through an amazing museum. Floors 4 to 7 are already occupied, as the art is moved over bit by bit and different exhibitions are opened.

One floor devoted to photography, one to several modern Brazilian painters, one displaying a massive collection of Italian paintings from the time between the wars. It was most impressive. The Matisse and Picasso were there, too.

The place was pretty empty though, more guards than visitors, which is nice for a change, but maybe due to the move and the confusion in finding the info (their site still isn’t properly updated, if my Portuguese doesn’t fail me). It definitely deserves more and better promotion.

On a side note, I was discussing with my host about the museum, especially the displays of modern stuff on the ground floor. A huge room devoted to an installation of tree trunks… for example.

In a country where a lot of people still don’t have access to sanitation and clean water, is it necessary to spend that money on art? It is the same discussion with the Olympics and the 2016 World Cup. Even in football-crazy Brazil I haven’t met anyone who was not critical about these projects.

One of the guards had pointed me to a massive Gerhard Richter, and explained that it had cost 13 Million Reais – ‘receita federal’ – from the federal budget? I am not quite sure whether he was proud of that piece, or whether he thought that was crazy.

And there is a point. Ok, the museums are mostly free… but if you live in a Favela, trying to make do from day to day, not knowing how, are you interested in a Matisse that hangs for free in a multi-million museum?

Then again, I don’t think the world would be necessarily better if we had no Museums and no art, or if it was all only for the rich. I have no answer on this. I love art. But I also have to realize that in some countries this might be seen as an unnecessary luxury.