Since 1979, the Portinari Project has been dedicated to cataloguing the works of Candido Portinari, including those held in public and private collections, as well as works circulating in the art market, galleries, and auctions. To date, over 5,300 works have been documented.
Each identified work undergoes analysis by the Project's team of experts. Once authenticated, it receives an official catalog number and is recorded in the Project's database, along with all relevant information.
Upon request by the collector, the Portinari Project may issue a certificate of authenticity. This certificate is produced in a single original copy, printed by the Brazilian Mint.
The registration process involves the following steps:
- The collector contacts the Project at the email adress noelia@portinari.org.br, submitting photographs and details regarding the work's provenance and technical specifications;
- If the work presents preliminary evidence supporting its authenticity, an in-person examination will be scheduled at the Portinari Project headquarters;
- If the work lacks evidence indicating authorship by Candido Portinari, the owner will be formally notified;
- In cases where available evidence is insufficient to determine authenticity or inauthenticity, the work will be classified as a “case for study.” Should new documentation become available, or following a physico-chemical examination, the work may be reassessed by the expert committee. This analysis must be conducted by a specialist designated by the Portinari Project, at the owner’s expense;
- The certificate of authenticity includes an image of the work, its official catalog number, title, date, medium, dimensions, and any pertinent observations. The owner's name will not be included. The certificate must accompany the artwork in the event of a change of ownership, and no duplicate will be issued;
- The certificate will be issued upon formal request by the owner and after payment of the applicable fee, previously communicated to the requester. If the work is listed for sale, the request may be submitted by the art dealer or auctioneer authorized by the owner.
Meet the Members of the Authenticity Commission:
Christina Gabaglia Penna
She holds a degree in Art History [Uerj], and a master’s degree in Museology and Heritage (UNIRIO). She is responsible for the cataloging of the works of Oswaldo Goeldi and Belmiro de Almeida. From 1979 to 2005, she worked on the Portinari Project, leading the cataloging of 5,000 works by Candido Portinari [1903–1962] and 30,000 documents, and organizing the publication Candido Portinari – Catalogue Raisonné, the first of its kind in Latin America. As a curator, she conceived and produced several exhibitions in Brazil and abroad, in addition to publishing works on the artist. Since 2006, she has been a partner at Hólos Consultoria e Assessoria Ltda., developing projects in the areas of cultural heritage conservation (restoration of the Municipal Theater of Rio, Palácio Guanabara and Laranjeiras, War and Peace panels, Sítio Burle Marx, National Museum of Fine Arts, Di Cavalcanti murals at Teatro João Caetano; railway stations of Barra do Piraí and Paulo de Frontin); exhibitions (Eliseu Visconti, Facchinetti, Amador Perez); cataloging of collections (Eliseu Visconti, Arthur Bispo do Rosário, Roberto Burle Marx, Tunga); publications (Nise da Silveira – The Path of a Rebel Psychiatrist, Birds of the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, Flowers of the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, Eliseu Visconti, From Asylum to Museum – Nise da Silveira and the Collections of Madness, Letters to Spinoza, Benedito); and educational programs (Church of the Sé, Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro, Tom Jobim – Music and Nature), among others. For ten years, she produced PULSAR – Dance Company. Since 2012, she has collaborated with the Museum of the Images of the Unconscious and is currently vice-president of the Friends of the Museum of the Images of the Unconscious Society. Since 2017, she has also collaborated with the Arthur Bispo do Rosário Museum and the City History Museum.
Humberto Farias
Professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, where he teaches Contemporary Art Conservation. He holds a master’s degree in Art History and Criticism from UFRJ and a PhD in Conservation and Restoration from the Polytechnic University of Valencia. He participated in an academic residency at the Museo Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in 2014 and in the Visiting Scholar Program at the Moving Image Archiving & Preservation Program at New York University in 2016. He has worked as an adjunct researcher on several projects funded by the Getty Foundation. From 2009 to 2014, he was a member of the cultural committee of IBEU, where he curated several solo exhibitions. He is a member of ANPA, ABCA, ICOM, and IIC.
Angela Ancora da Luz
Retired Professor of Art History in the Department of Art History and Theory at the School of Fine Arts of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), also active in the Graduate Program in Visual Arts at EBA/UFRJ. Director of the School of Fine Arts at UFRJ from 2002 to 2010. She holds a Master’s degree in Philosophy, with a focus on Aesthetics, from the Institute of Philosophy and Social Sciences/UFRJ; and a PhD in History, in the field of Cultural History, from the same institute. Her research area is Modern and Contemporary Art History, particularly the 20th century. She conducts research on art salons and biennials; and is a member of the Brazilian Committee of Art History (CBHA), the Brazilian Association of Art Critics (ABCA), and the International Association of Art Critics (AICA). She occupies chair 12 (in honor of Benevenuto Berna) at the Historical and Geographical Institute of Rio de Janeiro (IHGRJ), and chair 19 (in honor of Victor Brecheret) at the Brazilian Academy of Art. She received the Sergio Milliet Award from ABCA in 2005, the Gonzaga Duque Award in 2012, and the Mário de Andrade Award in 2018. In 2021, she was awarded the Minerva Medal for Academic Merit by UFRJ. She is the author of several books in her field.
Noelia Coutinho
Graduated in Law from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), and holds postgraduate degrees in Art History and Contemporary Philosophy from the same institution, and in Visual Arts from Estácio de Sá University.
She has collaborated with the Portinari Project since 1982 in the Collection area. She coordinates the Collection team, which includes the registration and authentication of the artist’s works, as well as the bibliographic and iconographic areas. She has participated in projects such as the publications Candido Portinari – Catalogue Raisonné and Candido Portinari: The Sower of Paintings; and exhibitions such as “Portinari: Retrospective at MASP” (1997), “Portinari at BM&F: Work as a Theme at the BMF Cultural Space,” São Paulo (2004), “Portinari in Israel,” at the Jewish Culture Center, SP (2010), the traveling exhibitions War and Peace (2010–2015), and Portinari the Illustrator at the Brazilian Embassy (2022). She also worked on the technical supervision of the restoration of Portinari’s panels at the Central Bank of Brazil (2007–2008) and coordinated the execution of the mosaic Jesus among the Doctors by Portinari for the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church at PUC-Rio (2006–2009).
