Madalena Santos Reinbold
1919, Vitória da Conquista - BA | 1977, Petrópolis - RJ
Madalena Santos Reinbolt (Vitória da Conquista, BA, 1919 – Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 1977), though she also worked with painting, is best known for her complex embroideries made with hundreds of vibrant colored threads—the so-called “wool paintings.” In these works, Reinbolt depicted everyday life in rural and urban settings, filled with Black characters: gatherings, festivities, celebrations, religious rituals, and communal meals.
Santos Reinbolt grew up on a small farm with her family, where she was first exposed to embroidery, weaving, ceramics, and painting during her childhood. In 1949, as a young adult, she moved to Petrópolis, where she worked on the Samambaia farm, the residence of architect Lota Macedo Soares (1910–1967) and her partner, American writer Elizabeth Bishop (1911–1979).
Although she was creatively inclined from a young age, it was only in the 1950s that the artist began dedicating herself to painting, crafting synthetic figures with expressive brushstrokes on fragile surfaces like paper or straw, highlighting the importance of materiality in her work.
By the late 1960s, Santos Reinbolt began creating her unique and pioneering “wool paintings,” produced with 154 needles in a variety of colors, much like a palette of paint, which she applied to burlap or canvas. In her practice, the needle became an extension of her hand, akin to a brush in painting.
Despite her rich and distinctive body of work, Santos Reinbolt operated outside the traditional art circuits of her time, and it is only in recent years that her work has begun to receive greater recognition.
Even today, museums and art spaces remain largely silent about the groundbreaking nature of her production—something the exhibition at MASP seeks to address, fostering dialogue around her history and contributions to Brazilian art.
MASP - Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand
Solo Exhibitions
2025 Madalena Santos Reinbolt: A Head Full of Planets, American Folk Art Museum, New York, USA
2022 Madalena Santos Reinbolt: A Head Full of Planets, MASP - Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
Group 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, Casa Fiat de Cultura, Belo Horizonte - MG, Brazil
2025 Instituto Tomie Ohtake Visits Vilma Eid Collection - In Every Corner, Instituto Tomie Ohtake, 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
2023 Lélia Coelho Frota: A criação do artista popular, Cia Roberto Marinho, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil
2022 Crafting Modernity: Design in Latin America, 1940–1980, MoMA, New York, USA
2021–2022 Carolina Maria de Jesus: Brazil for Brazilians, IMS - Instituto Moreira Salles, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2021–2022 3 Frestas - Trienal das Artes, Sesc Sorocaba, Sorocaba - SP, Brazil
2021 Terra and Temperature, Galeria Almeida & Dale, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2020 Women in Folk Art, Galeria Estação, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2016 Evocações — Doze artistas mulheres e as múltiplas linguagens criativas, Museu Afro Brasil Emanoel Araújo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2016 The Hand of the Brazilian People, MASP - Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2010 A Arte do Povo Brasileiro: Quatro Olhares. Uma Homenagem, Museu Afro Brasil Emanoel Araújo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2006–2007 Viva Cultura Viva do Povo Brasileiro, Museu Afro Brasil Emanoel Araújo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2000 Arte Popular: Mostra do Redescobrimento, Fundação Bienal de São Paulo: Associação Brasil 500 anos Artes Visuais, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
1991 A Mata, MAC/USP - Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
1978 38th Venice Biennale, La Biennale di Venezia, Brazilian Pavilion, Venice, Italy
1969 The Hand of the Brazilian People, MASP - Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
Public Collections
MAAM - Museo de Arte Americano de Maldonado, Maldonado, Uruguay
Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA
MASP - Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
Museu Afro Brasil Emanoel Araújo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
Selected Publications
2025 Em cada canto: Instituto Tomie Ohtake visita Coleção Vilma Eid, Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2025 Weaving the Morning: Modern Life and Nocturnal Experience in Brazilian Art, Pinacoteca de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2024–2025 Dos Brasis: Arte e Pensamento Negro, Igor Simões, Lorraine Mendes and Marcelo Campos, Sesc São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2024 Moderno Contemporâneo Popular Brasileiro | The Vilma Eid Gaze, Daniel Rangel, Germana Monte-Mór and Lorenzo Mammi, Editora WMF, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2023 Reverses and Transverses: Artists Beyond Boundaries (and Friends) at the Biennials, Galeria Estação, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2022 Madalena Santos Reinbolt: A Head Full of Planets, Adriano Pedrosa, Amanda Carneiro and André Mesquita, Ipsis Gráfica e Editora, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2016 A mão do povo brasileiro, MASP - Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2007 Viva a Cultura Viva do Povo Brasileiro, Museu Afro Brasil, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
2005 Pequeno Dicionário da arte do povo brasileiro século XX, Lélia Coelho Frota, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil
2000 Arte Popular: Mostra do Redescobrimento, Fundação Bienal de São Paulo: Associação Brasil 500 anos Artes Visuais, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
1988–2010 A mão afro-brasileira: significado da contribuição artística e histórica, Emanoel Araújo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
1978 Mitopoética de 9 artistas brasileiros: vida, verdade e obra, Lélia Coelho Frota, Funarte, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil
1978 La Biennale di Venezia 1978: Dalla natura all’arte. Dall’arte alla natura, La Biennale di Venezia, Gruppo Editoriale Electa, Venice, Italy
