Lina Bo Bardi's buildings, one of the world's oldest biennials, and a museum where the paintings float on glass.
Lina Bo Bardi's red-framed museum of 1968, suspended over an open plaza. The collection hangs on her glass easels, so you walk through the paintings as through a forest; the labels are on the back. A second building opened next door in 2024.
The city's oldest art museum, in a brick building opened up by Paulo Mendes da Rocha with walkways across the courtyards.
Lina Bo Bardi's 1980s conversion of a drum factory into a leisure centre, with concrete towers linked by flying walkways.
Oscar Niemeyer's park of 1954: the Biennial pavilion, the Museum of Modern Art (MAM) under the marquee, the Oca dome and Afro Brasil museum.
The art centre dedicated to the Japanese-born Brazilian abstract painter, in a building designed by her son Ruy Ohtake.
Rooms, ruins and curiosities: the city's other museum.
Lina Bo Bardi's glass house of 1951, on stilts in the remains of the Atlantic forest.
Niemeyer's S-shaped wave of 1,160 apartments, home to around 5,000 people.
An alley entirely covered in graffiti, repainted constantly.
Vilanova Artigas's architecture school (1969): a concrete box on slim pillars, with no front door and ramps that link every level.
Paulo Mendes da Rocha's sculpture museum (1995), sunk into the ground under a single concrete beam 60 metres long.
The rooftop of the 46-storey Edifício Itália (1965), with a 360-degree view of the city's endless towers.
Instituto Tomie Ohtake ·
IMS Paulista · 14 Nov 2026 – 11 Apr 2027
See the full selection →The art park near Belo Horizonte, a flight away. See Off-Piste.
MASP at opening → lunch on Paulista → metro to Luz → the Pinacoteca → SESC Pompéia in the evening.