Emiliano Di Cavalcanti, one of the major figures in 20th-century Brazilian art, was a painter, illustrator, engraver, muralist, draughtsman, writer, set designer, and journalist deeply committed to social issues—an interest he transposed into his work. With a distinctive style, he championed figurative painting and sought to represent Brazilian culture in his visual production. His works depict the everyday life of the Brazilian people, samba, popular festivals, characters from his surroundings, and urban spaces.  

Born in Rio de Janeiro, in 1917 he moved to São Paulo, where he attended the Largo de São Francisco Law School and worked for newspapers and magazines as a reviewer and illustrator. In the same year, he held his first solo exhibition of caricatures in the editorial office of A Cigarra magazine. Stimulated by the cultural environment in which he found himself and coming into contact with artists and intellectuals such as Mário de Andrade, Oswald de Andrade and Guilherme de Almeida, Di Cavalcanti was one of the creators of the Semana de Arte Moderna [Modern Art Week] of 1922, an event held at the Municipal Theater in São Paulo that became a cornerstone in the Brazilian modernist movement and had long-lasting influence on artists.  

In 1923, Di Cavalcanti traveled to Paris as a correspondent for Correio da Manhã, where he set up a studio. In the French capital, he got to know the work of the great exponents of European modernism, such as Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Fernand Léger, among others. He returned to Brazil in 1925 and, in 1932, founded the Clube dos Artistas Modernos (Modern Artists Club – CAM) in São Paulo with Flávio de Carvalho, Antonio Gomide and Carlos Prado, a grouping strategy that allowed artists independence from the art academies. 

His work has been recognized and celebrated since the 1950s. In 1953, together with Alfredo Volpi, he was awarded the prize for best national painter at the 2nd Bienal de São Paulo and, the following year, he was honored at MAM Rio de Janeiro with a retrospective exhibition of his paintings. More recently, two important museums in São Paulo held major exhibitions on the artist: No subúrbio da modernidade: Di Cavalcanti 120 anos, at Pinacoteca de São Paulo, Brazil (2017); and Di Cavalcanti no MAM: 50 anos x 2, at MAM São Paulo, Brazil (2021). Works by Di Cavalcanti are part of collections such as: Pinacoteca de São Paulo; MAM São Paulo; MAM Rio de Janeiro; Museu de Arte Contemporânea da USP – MAC USP; Museu de Arte Brasileira – MAB FAAP; among others.