Brazilian artist Cândido Portinari, the child of Italian immigrants, grew up on a coffee plantation in the state of São Paulo where his father worked. At the age of fifteen he started his studies at the academy of arts in Rio de Janiero. In his work he wanted to depict the turmoil of the time – prevailing political upheavals and social injustice. Portinari addressed the social problems of Brazil in his paintings, such as the plight of the country’s rural inhabitants, most of whom were previously enslaved people. He became a member of the Brazilian Communist party so the class struggle of the workers and native population become the main topic of his art. On September 6, 1957, his famous pair of paintings War and Peace was donated to the United Nations Assembly in New York. Due to Portinari’s involvement with the Communist Party, he was not invited to this ceremony. In December 2010, the panels returned to Brazil and were celebrated with an exhibition at the Municipal Theater in Rio de Janeiro.
