Suanê [Lúcia Suanê Carvalho Nóbrega]

1922, Água Preta - PE | 2020, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

Born Lucia de Barros Carvalho (1922-2020), Suanê adopted her name during adolescence after receiving it from a shaman of the Fulni-ô people in Águas Belas, Pernambuco—a name meaning 'coming from the stars.' Great-aunt of the artist Tunga, Suanê settled in São Paulo in 1940, where she lived until her death at the age of 98. She began her artistic career in 1945, encouraged in her initial steps in painting by her husband, painter Nelson Nóbrega, with whom she shared a studio and mentored generations of artists over several decades.

Since her first solo exhibition at Galeria Itá in 1946, Suanê stood out for her spontaneous and sensitive artistic language. Childhood memories from her family's sugar mill and elements of Pernambuco culture vividly materialized in her work, impacting São Paulo's art scene through their vibrant imagination and expressive intensity. Her recognition peaked in the 1950s when she participated in the 1st São Paulo International Biennial and the Salão Paulista de Arte Moderna, earning awards and receiving a commission to paint a fresco for the Capela do Morumbi, designed by modernist architect Gregori Warchavchik (1896-1972) and recommended by Lina Bo Bardi (1914-1992) and Pietro Maria Bardi (1900-1999).

Throughout various phases, Suanê’s artwork reveals a continuous dialogue between the materiality of the world and a transcendental dimension of existence. While her early works explored religious scenes, still lifes, and portraits, from the late 1980s onwards, her paintings increasingly evoked visions of the sky and the cosmos. In her final productive years, between 2006 and 2019, she incorporated new materials such as fabrics, ropes, wood, plastic, and metal sheets, creating cutouts and openings in her supports, resulting in works that transcended traditional canvas boundaries and evoked infinity.

Suanê left behind a valuable legacy present in prominent institutional collections, including the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, MASP, and MAM/BA, as well as private collections in Brazil and abroad. Her artistic journey, still being rediscovered, reaffirms her essential place in Brazilian modern art history as an artist who transformed ordinary materials into expressions of the cosmos and the vastness of human imagination.

Solo Exhibitions

2024 - “The Cosmic Pernambuco of Suanê”, MAC/USP - Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2007 - “Sertões”, Galeria Paulo Darzé, Salvador - BA, Brazil;

2005 – Solo Exhibition, Grifo Galeria de Arte, São Paulo - SP, Brazil;

1988 - Solo Exhibition, Galeria Paulo Vasconcellos, São Paulo - SP, Brazil;

1974 - Solo Exhibition, Galeria Altamira, Brussels, Belgium;

1964 - Solo Exhibition, Galeria São Luís, São Paulo - SP, Brazil;

1946 - Solo Exhibition, Galeria Itá, São Paulo - SP, Brazil;

Collective Exhibitions

2023 - “Entreatos”, MAM/BA - Museu de Arte Moderna da Bahia, Salvador - BA, Brazil;

2023 - “Reverses and Transverses - artists beyond boundaries (and friends) at the biennials" - Galeria Estação, São Paulo - SP, Brazil;

2022 - “Arte Moderna na Metrópole: 1947 - 1951”, Centro Cultural CPFL, Campinas - SP, Brazil;

2017 - "O Mercado de Arte Moderna em São Paulo: 1947-1951", MAM/SP - Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil;

2015 - "Núcleo inicial", MASC - Museu de Arte de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis - SC, Brazil;

2012 - "O Retorno da Coleção Tamagni: até as estrelas por caminhos difíceis", MAM/SP - Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil;

2003 - "Um Difícil Momento de Equilíbrio", MAM/SP - Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil;

2000 - "A Cena Muda", MASC - Museu de Arte de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis - SC, Brazil;

1996 - “Mulheres Artistas no Acervo”, MAC/USP - Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil;

1989 - 20o Panorama de Arte Atual Brasileira, MAM/SP - Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil;

1966 - “3 premissas”, MAB/FAAP - Museu de Arte Brasileira, São Paulo - SP, Brazil;

1959 - Coletiva beneficente na Galeria Atrium, São Paulo - SP, Brazil;

1955 - Ilustrações para o livro “Poemas” de Ascenso Ferreira, Recife - PE, Brazil;

1951 - Inauguração de afresco na Capela do Morumbi, São Paulo - SP, Brazil;

1951 - I Salão de Arte Moderna de São Paulo - Prêmio Pintura, São Paulo - SP, Brazil;

1951 - 1a Bienal Internacional de São Paulo - Prêmio Aquisição do Museu Paulista, São Paulo - SP, Brazil  

1949 - “Exposição de Pintores de São Paulo” no Edifício Capanema, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil;

1949 - Exposição Feminina de Arte organizada pela pintora Gerda Brentani, São Paulo - SP, Brazil;

1949 - XII Salão do Sindicato de Artistas Plásticos, São Paulo - SP, Brazil;

1948 - “Artes Plásticas”, na Galeria Domus, São Paulo - SP, Brazil;

1947 - Exposição coletiva, Galeria Itapetininga, São Paulo - SP, Brazil;

1947 - “Senhoras de Pintores Conhecidos”, Galeria Domus, São Paulo - SP, Brazil;

Public Collections

Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil 

MCSP - Museu da Cidade de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil 

MAM/SP - Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil 

MASC - Museu de Arte de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis - SC, Brazil;

MAPA - Museu de Arte Primitiva de Assis, São Paulo - SP, Brazil 

MAM/BA - Museu de Arte Moderna da Bahia, Salvador – BA, Brazil

Selected Publications

2024 “O Pernambuco Cósmico de Suanê”, MAC/USP - Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2023 “Reversos e Transversos - artistas fora do eixo (e amigos) nas bienais", Galeria Estação, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2019 Suanê: Artebiografia, Hernani Maia Costa e Francisco de Sales Gaudêncio, Editora Noeses, São Paulo – SP, Brazil