Between 2016 and 2021 the museu do louvre pau-brazyl was a fictional franchise of the Louvre Museum in Paris, located in the Louvre building designed by Artacho Jurado in downtown São Paulo.

The structure of the Brazilian building was decisive for the project’s actions: the Louvre building is comprised of nine distinct blocks, with each of the front four blocks bearing the names of European painters—Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Renoir, and Velázquez. Prints of works by the respective artists decorate the entrance halls. But unlike the front of the building, the rear five blocks feature neither painters nor prints. However, through research of original blueprints and sales advertisements it was possible to recover their forgotten namesake: the Brazilian painter Pedro Américo. The museu do louvre pau-brazyl investigated the layers of narratives and asymmetries present in this musée-trouvé.

A trilogy of exhibitions started with the group show 9 of 9 (2016), which took place on the mezzanine; followed by Disavowed (2017), a solo show by Lais Myrrha, who explored the space of Pedro Américo—the back block and garage; followed by the group show 3rd act: the verso (2019), which flowed over the back of the building and into its surroundings.

A series of publications accompanied the exhibitions, registering them and expanding their discussions, including the autobiography of monalisa (2016); where is pedro américo? (2018); and reds (2020).

Two interventions concluded the project: Regulation (2020) by Enric Farrés Duran, which tinkered with the innards of the building’s bureaucracy by sending the administration a rewrite of its “Regimento” (Regulation), which dates back to 1987 and is currently still framed and hanging on the ground floor and mezzanine of the building; and the site-specific installation SOME VERSION OF SOMETHING THAT HAPPENED [ALGUMA VERSÃO DE ALGO QUE ACONTECEU] (2021), a painting on the blind side of the Louvre building by the Chopped Liver Press (Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin), which serves as the museu do louvre pau-brazyl’s epitaph.

address
edifício Louvre
avenida são luís, 192
república
01046-000
são paulo, sp
brasil

contact
museu@louvrepaubrazyl.org