Museum of Visual Arts

The Museum of Visual Arts occupies a three-story 19th-century building decorated with Portuguese ceramic tiles across its facade and featuring multiple exhibition spaces inside. The building houses the Nagy Lajos Gallery for rotating shows and a specialized library dedicated to art research and documentation.

The museum was founded in 1989 as an extension of the Historical and Artistic Museum of Maranhão to create dedicated space for fine arts collections. This separation allowed the institution to focus exclusively on painting, sculpture, and decorative arts while keeping historical and archaeological objects elsewhere.

The collection brings together works by local artists from Maranhão and renowned Brazilian names like Tarsila do Amaral through paintings, sculptures, and decorative tiles. These works reflect how artists from this region and beyond have shaped visual expression in Brazil.

The museum sits in the Praia Grande neighborhood along Portugal Street and is easily accessible from the historic center's colonial-era streets. Plan time to explore all the gallery spaces across the three floors, as each level offers different views and display arrangements.

The building includes a watchtower on its upper level that provides visitors with an elevated view over the Praia Grande neighborhood, Commerce Square, and the Bacanga River. This vantage point reveals how the colonial quarter extends through the city and its relationship to the waterfront in a way not visible from street level.

Location: São Luís

Inception: 1989

Phone: +559832189938

Email: mham@ma.gov.br

Website: http://sectur.ma.gov.br/museu-de-artes-visuais

GPS coordinates: -2.54044,-44.25463

Latest update: December 12, 2025 12:00