Mirian Inêz da Silva
1948, Trindade, GO, Brasil | 1996, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil
Mirian Inêz da Silva Cerqueira: The Theater of Everyday Life
The work of Mirian Inêz da Silva Cerqueira (1939–1996) unfolds like a visual performance, where popular culture, the sacred, and the everyday intertwine in vibrant, dynamic scenes. Born in Trindade, Goiás, and trained at the Escola Goiana de Artes Plásticas, the artist later moved from Brazil’s countryside to Rio de Janeiro, where she studied painting with Ivan Serpa at the Museum of Modern Art (MAM) from 1962 to 1963. This shift in landscape and references—from religious festivals and folk traditions to the cultural buzz of the city—deeply shaped her artistic language.
Mirian began her career as a printmaker and quickly gained institutional recognition, participating in the São Paulo Biennial in 1963 and 1967, as well as the early editions of the National Young Printmakers Exhibition at MAC-USP. However, by the late 1960s, she left woodcut printmaking behind and turned to painting, developing a distinctive visual language that conveyed her worldview through rhythmic forms and bold colors.
Her paintings create visual narratives drawn from themes rooted in Brazil’s collective imagination: celebrations, childhood games, romantic encounters, street life, religious scenes, and mythology. Her gaze moves between the fluidity of human gestures and the structural rigidity of her settings, creating a dramatic contrast that reinforces the theatrical nature of her work. This sense of theater is heightened by masked figures with painted faces and fixed expressions, as if acting out an endless play about existence itself.
A recurring tension between religiosity and sensuality runs through her paintings, revealing a multifaceted Brazil where devotion and desire coexist. The sacred elements in her work are rendered with a sense of formal stability, while the profane and everyday moments are captured in fleeting, expressive motion.
By translating the logic of woodcut printmaking into painting, Mirian retains a graphic simplicity and the repetition of patterns, while expanding her expressive range. Her figures and scenes are often cut from wood, giving a three-dimensional quality to a world that floats somewhere between memory and theatrical representation. Her work invites us to see daily life as a continuous performance, where the drama of existence plays out in a luminous, timeless space.
Solo Exhibitions:
2021 Mirian Inez da Silva, MuN - Museu Nacional da República, Brasília - DF, Brazil
2021 The Extraordinary Impurities of Miriam Inez da Silva, Almeida&Dale Galeria de Arte, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2015 Mirian | Pinturas e Gravuras, Galeria Estação, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
Collective Exhibitions:
2025 Weaving the Morning: Modern Life and Nocturnal Experience in Brazilian Art, Pinacoteca de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2025 In every corner: Casa Fiat de Cultura and Instituto Tomie Ohtake visit Vilma Eid Collection, Belo Horizonte - MG, Brazil
2025 Instituto Tomie Ohtake visits Vilma Eid Collection - In every corner, Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2024 Cotidiano, imaginação e paisagem, Galeria Estação 20 anos, Instituto Çarê, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2024 Women by Women, Galeria Estação, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2023 “Reverses and Transverses: artists beyond boundaries (and friends) at the biennials”, Galeria Estação, São Paulo – SP, Brazil
2022 Histórias brasileiras, MASP - Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2021 They Were Already Here, Galeria Base, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
2020 Women in Folk Art, Galeria Estação, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
2019 The Sacred in Brazilian Modern Art, Museu de Arte Sacra, São Paulo, Brazil
2018-2019 Exposición Lina Bo Bardi Tupí or not tupí? Fundation Juan March, Madrid, Spain
2009 Brazil Brazilian, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (CCBB), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
2008-2009 Brazil Brazilian, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (CCBB), São Paulo, SP, Brazil
2005 It is our pleasure, Galeria Brasiliana, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
2004-2005 Forms, Colour and Expression, Galeria Estação, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
2002 6° Biennial, Folk Art of Brazil, Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil
2002 Pop Brazil: Brazilian outsider art, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (CCBB), São Paulo, SP, Brazil
2000 Brazil + 500 Rediscovrey Exibition, Parque Ibirapuera, São Paulo, Brazil
1999 Naïve Geniuses 70/80, Brasília, Brazil
1994 Great Exhibition of Brazilian Folk Art, Galeria Jacques Ardies, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
1980 Primitive Paintings of Brazil, Museu de Arte Carrilo Gil, México
1980 People of the Earth, Paço das Artes, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
1980 Images of Dance, Paço das Arte, São Paulo, Brazil
1976 Painter of Imaginary, Paris, France
1969 Biennial of Engraving of Santiago, Chile
1968 19° National Salon of Modern Art, Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, MAM-RJ, Brazil
1968 17° National Salon of Modern Art, Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, MAM-RJ, Brazil
1967 São Paulo International Biennial, Fundação Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
1965 Exhibition of the Young National Engraving, Museu de Arte da Pampulha (MAP), Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
1965 Exhibition of the Young National Engraving, Museu de Arte de Santa Catarina (Masc), Florianópolis, SC, Brazil
1964 Exhibition of the Young National Engraving, Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo (MAC/USP), São Paulo, SP, Brazil
1963 São Paulo International Biennial, Fundação Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
Public Collections
MASP - Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
Selected Publications
2025 Weaving the Morning: Modern Life and Nocturnal Experience in Brazilian Art, Pinacoteca de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2024 Metamorfoses e Distâncias, Galeria Estação, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2024 Cotidiano, imaginação e paisagem, Galeria Estação 20 anos, Instituto Çarê, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2023 REVERSOS & TRANSVERSOS: artistas fora do eixo (e amigos) nas bienais, Galeria Estação, São Paulo – SP, Brazil
2021 As impurezas extraordinárias de Miriam Inez da Silva, Almeida&Dale Galeria, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2020 Mulheres na Arte Popular, Vilma Eid e Fernanda Pitta, Lis Gráfica, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2018 Arte Popular Brasileira: olhares contemporâneos, Vilma Eid e Germana Monte-Mór, Editora WMF Martins Fontes, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2015 Mirian, Vilma Eid e Miguel Chaia, Lis Gráfica, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2000 Mostra do Redescobrimento: arte popular. Nelson Aguiar, organizador / Fundação Bienal de São Paulo de São Paulo e Associação 500 Anos
1988 Dicionário crítico da pintura no Brasil, Artlivre
1979 Artes Plásticas no Centro-Oeste, MACP
1978 Aspectos da pintura primitiva brasileira, Spala
