White Grandmother Painting

The MNSR presents as its piece of the month of May the painting Avó Branca, by Armando Basto, a work donated to the Museum by his family and where the artist portrays his wife. The highlight is the month that marks the centenary of the painter’s death.

Decades after James McNeill Whistler painted the artist’s Portrait of Mother, a painting with influence on several artists and considered a hymn to motherhood and family values, Armando Basto presents Avó Branca.

In the case of Armando Basto, the theme of motherhood is emphasized by the rocking chair, thus making reference to his wife’s pregnancy. Unlike Whisther’s work, in which the mother has a resigned and austere look, Snow has a firm stance and her eyes set on the future.