SP–Arte, São Paulo’s leading art fair, will hold its twenty-first edition this year, reaffirming its role as a catalyst and meeting point for Brazil’s art ecosystem. In just a few weeks, 200 exhibitors from around the globe will mount displays, yet as always, the fair remains primarily focused on Brazil and the South America region, underscoring its mission to support, showcase and nurture the local art scene while serving as a bridge to the international art world. Ahead of SP–Arte 2025, which opens on April 2, Observer spoke with founder and director Fernanda Feitosa about the fair’s evolution and the vitality of the Brazilian art market.
Before launching SP–Arte in 2004, Feitosa was working as a lawyer at JP-Morgan and collecting art with her husband. “At the time, we were a young couple recently married, and we used to go from one gallery to another,” she said. “There were a few auction houses, too.” Even then, Brazil had a solid and established cultural infrastructure, albeit one very local in scope. Its foundations can be traced back to the 1960s and the 1970s—a decade during which, despite the military dictatorship, Brazil’s art scene flourished with pivotal movements like Concrete and Neoconcrete, producing internationally celebrated artists such as Lygia Clark and Hélio Oiticica.
One of the world’s longest-running biennials—the Bienal de São Paulo, launched in 1951—was a driving force behind the development of the city’s fertile art landscape. Anchored around this pivotal event, key institutions like the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo (MAM) and the Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand (MASP) played a central role. MASP has recently gained wider international recognition, not only for its ambitious programming but also thanks to its director, Adriano Pedrosa, curator of the 2024 Venice Biennale. Orbiting this dynamic nucleus of institutions was a circle of established professional galleries, some of which had begun showing at international fairs, though many remained focused on the secondary market.
Simultaneously, Brazil boasted an active artists’ community, largely based between Rio and São Paulo, with some already exhibiting abroad. Collectors, too, played a vital role and were deeply engaged in supporting Brazilian artists. “The Brazilian art scene was already robust. What was missing was a meeting point, a new and younger fair that connected all its different parts,” Feitosa said. “We acknowledged that there was a market already, and we had to invest in it to foster its further growth. So we wanted to create the same atmosphere and connecting platform that other cities, such as Miami with Art Basel or later Madrid with Arco, had been able to create, to connect their art systems.”
Although Brazil has weathered several crises in recent years, São Paulo remains a wealthy city with capital, and all the ingredients for a successful fair and art ecosystem have always been present. Culturally, it is largely self-sustaining, with strong local offerings and, crucially, a committed community of local collectors.
That’s not to say Feitosa faced few challenges—there were plenty, especially when it came to attracting more international exhibitors, long deterred by Brazil’s notoriously punitive import taxes, which remain in effect. Temporary relief came in 2012, as Feitosa recounts, when the local government of São Paulo introduced a tax exemption window during the fair, reducing rates to 12 percent—though only São Paulo and Rio residents were eligible. This policy shift drew major international galleries, including David Zwirner, which participated for several years along with other global names.
More recently, a series of events that coincided with the fair impacted Brazil’s global image, according to Feitosa. First came zika, the mosquito-borne virus that spread rapidly across the country in 2015 and 2016. Then came the economy’s progressive downturn, which severely eroded local purchasing power as the Brazilian real lost value against the dollar. In 2012, the exchange rate was one dollar to 2.2/2.5 real; today, it’s 5.6/5.9 real. “Even if the import duties were lower, for an international gallery selling in dollars, coming here means now that the buyer will buy at double the dollar price, which is very discouraging.”
As a result, many of this year’s SP–Arte participants are from Brazil or nearby countries in the region. A number of those dealers, however, maintain an international presence, either through frequent participation in global fairs or permanent gallery spaces abroad, like Mendes Wood DM and Luisa Strina.
Still, the Brazilian art market and its infrastructure remain solid. Brazilian artists are attracting increasing international attention, spurred by a renewed focus on the Global South and momentum from the most recent Biennale. “I can bet that the art market in Brazil is much better than if we look at the art market internationally,” Feitosa said. “Our artists are very good, and the collectors are very active. And global art market attention is now back on Brazil.”
The fair’s central goal remains the same: to offer international collectors and art professionals a window into the energy and richness of São Paulo’s cultural landscape. The level of exhibitions presented during the city’s art week speaks to the quality—and increasingly, the global resonance—of the work on view.
Brazilian museums, Feitosa added, are also gaining strength in their programming. While they face the same fundraising challenges as institutions around the world, they have remained resilient and proactive in nurturing the scene’s continued growth. MASP, for instance, has just completed a major expansion with the construction of the new 14-story Pietro Maria Bardi Building, which will significantly increase exhibition space next to the iconic structure designed by Lina Bo Bardi. MASP raised approximately $50 million—largely through private and corporate donations—to fund the project.
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The new building will debut with two exhibitions: one by Renoir and another by Isaac Julien, who will present his video masterpiece Marvellous Entanglement, a tribute to architect Lina Bo Bardi, in Brazil for the first time. Pinacoteca de São Paulo will unveil a site-specific installation of colorful geometric abstractions by Argentinian artist Ad Minoliti.
Leading Brazilian galleries have also prepared some of their strongest programming for the week. At Mendes Wood’s Casa Iramaia, a dialogue unfolds between the works of American artists Laurie Simmons and Jimmy De Sana, while a show of unpublished photographs and collages by Isaac Julien—derived from the film showing at MASP—will also be on view. Gentil Carioca will spotlight the work of Cameroonian artist Pascale Marthine Tayou in a solo show, while Luciana Brito presents solo exhibitions by Regina Silveira and Liliana Porter, with Porter offering an overview of her work from the past five years. At Galeria Leme, visitors can engage with large, mesh-like semi-transparent sculptures by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa, in his second exhibition with the gallery. Forte D’Aloia & Gabriel will feature a solo show by Gokula Stoffel. Meanwhile, Mendes Wood DM will host the Brazilian debut of Italian painter Guglielmo Castelli and the first exhibition in four years by Adriano Costa. And the list continues, promising a rich array of exhibitions for both Brazilian and international collectors arriving for the fair.
Feitosa is also seeing the appetite for art growing among younger generations in Brazil. “I’m counting on that future generation, and part of our mission is to communicate with them and make them understand that art is not for extremely rich people only: art is for you, for us of our time, to connect with artists that are producing.”
The numbers reflect this generational shift—SP–Arte is a notably young fair, with more than 50 percent of visitors between 35 and 55 years old. More importantly, Feitosa pointed out, many enthusiasts are becoming consistent buyers, actively building art collections. “At the same time, older collectors, around and over 50 years old, are still very active,” she said, including herself and her husband—who is CEO of MASP—among them. “The ones over 70 years old might be less now, as they already built their collections, often including Brazilian and international masters, so they are more selective.” Those fairgoers still support the scene, however, by supporting museums or making their collections accessible.
As part of its VIP program, SP–Arte organizes visits to private collections, offering rare access to significant works held in personal hands, and Feitosa encourages others to follow this path. “We always hope that these collections of younger people will have a long life,” she said. “I have been collecting for 30 years now, and I hope that these people will continue collecting for the next 20 years or more.”
Over the past decade, São Paulo has also seen the rise of a new generation of art advisory firms, offering guidance and support for emerging collectors. “We now have at least six big offices of arts advisors in the city; there were none when we launched the fair,” Feitosa said. Now local advisors are regularly invited to host panels and discussions as part of the fair’s public programming. Recent editions have also looped in artists—because, she added, people want to meet them, understand who they are and where their practice originates.
Feitosa admits that SP–Arte is not as international as it was between 2015 and 2020—largely due to factors beyond her or anyone else’s control—yet maintains that she’s still working to position the fair as a place for international encounters. “Our goal now is to bring international collectors and the international art community to know, appreciate and support the scene.” Through initiatives like the SP–Arte Circuit, the fair collaborates closely with Brazilian galleries and institutions to sustain and expand the country’s vibrant ecosystem while also working to raise its visibility far beyond national borders.
Asked to sum up what a good art fair should be, she said: “I truly think the main role of an art fair is to be a democratic place that connects artists with their public, whether collectors, curators, professionals or just art enthusiasts. An art fair, for me, should be a democratic place.”
SP–Arte will take place from April 2 to 6, 2025, at Pavilhão da Bienal, São Paulo, Brazil.
