Mara Toledo was born in Passo Fundo in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. She started her career in 1982 and needs to paint every day as much as the air she breathes.

The D. is for good luck and has a reason related to numerology, says the superstitious Mara with a smile. The young Mara was already showing abilities to draw well and mix the colors. She started working at the age of 16 for a publishing house in the artistic sector, which offered her experience and opportunities.

Married and mother of two kids, she moved to São Paulo where she made her first solo exhibition at the Art Museum of São Paulo in 1983, invited by Professor Pietro Maria Bardi. She also exhibits individually at the Uniao Cultural Brazil-USA Gallery in São Paulo (1987), the Nini Barontini Gallery in Curitiba (1996) and the Jacques Ardies Gallery in São Paulo (2008). Abroad, she participated in several group exhibitions in the United States, Spain, Russia, Malaysia, France, Switzerland, Israel, Monaco and Austria.

Her compositions, inspired by the Brazilian countryside, depict scenes populated by beautiful women, who look happy and healthy. Mara likes to represent people working during the harvest, but also during other moments in the life of the countryside, as relaxation and festive commemorations.

The calm conviviality of small country towns, the characters who live there and still move in oxcarts fill Mara's canvases with pleasant simplicity and attest to an artist of great value.

Lately, she has devoted herself to painting scenes of tropical forests where we discreetly discover the presence of Indians who seem to live there in harmony. The luxuriant nature is dominant and depicted by thousands of meticulous details.

An invitation to escape in an exotic and enchanting setting.