Between 1931 and 1944, Candido Portinari took part in two fundamental exhibitions, the XXXVIII Salão de Belas-Artes and the Exposição de Arte Moderna, which were responsible for Portinari’s consecration in the imagination of modern Brazilian art. In 2015, then, curator Denise Mattar held the exhibition Candido Portinari: Poetics of Modernity 1931-1944 at Almeida & Dale, focusing on these two decisive events that established Portinari’s position in Brazilian modern art. This publication reflects the curator’s research into this period and presents an essay that broadens the discussion to the modernist scene of the time.