Iracema Arditi

Born in São Paulo in 1924. She grew up in the city of Rio de Janeiro. In 1951, she moved to São Paulo and on her own, without the guidance of a fine arts teacher, she began painting in 1952. Her first personal exhibition took place in Paris, at the Herbinet gallery. Then, she regularly exhibits in various Cultural Centers in Europe and throughout Brazil. In 1967, she was elected Corporate Member and Jury of the Salon d'Automne in Paris. She collects the works of the most important Brazilian naive painters of the time. She gathered her collection and in 1972 founded the Museu do Sol in São Paulo, the first in South America dedicated to this genre of painting. This Museum was then transferred to the city of Penápolis in 1978. Iracema played a leading role in the naive art movement in Brazil. Numerous distinctions between prizes and medals mark his life devoted to a unique work. France, in 1985, awarded her the Knight's Cross of Arts and Letters. She lived between Lyon and São Paulo until her death in 2006.