Tomie Ohtake was born in Kyoto, Japan, and arrived in Brazil as an adult in 1936. She began painting at the age of 39, encouraged by the Japanese artist Keiya Sugano. Throughout her extensive career, Ohtake produced paintings, watercolors, drawings, engravings, and sculptures, including large-scale public installations. Her works evoke the lightness and technical precision of Japanese art, with restrained chromatic schemes and balanced compositions. Her artistic approach emphasized the importance of empty spaces, the absence of ornamentation, and a persistent engagement with pictorial research.  

Ohtake developed a body of work marked by simple elements and a continuous return to themes, colors, and compositions. Without ever aligning herself with a specific artistic movement, she treated painting as a medium for contemplation. She approached the canvas as a tangible object—a space of materiality and texture—creating works that explored intangible themes such as light, balance, shadow, and movement. In the late 1950s, her paintings gained critical recognition after being exhibited at the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo. She also participated in the Salão Nacional de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro and was nominated for the Prêmio Leirner de Arte Contemporânea (Leirner Prize for Contemporary Art). By then, she was already regarded as an established figure in the world of painting. 

The artist has participated in numerous solo exhibitions, group shows and art salons, both in Brazil and abroad, and has received several awards. Highlights include her participation in six editions of the Bienal de São Paulo (1961, 1963, 1967, 1989, 1996, 1998); the 36th Venice Biennale (1972); the 1st Havana Biennale in Cuba (1984); and, recently, the 60th Venice Biennale, Foreigners Everywhere, curated by Adriano Pedrosa (2024). Her work is in the collections of institutions such as MoMA, USA; SFMOMA, USA; MASP, Brazil; Pinacoteca de São Paulo, Brazil; MAC USP, Brazil; MAM Rio, Brazil; Instituto Itaú Cultural, Brazil; Museu Nacional de Belas Artes, Brazil, among others.