Artist: Almeida Júnior
Date: 1897
Size: 73 x 120 cm
Museum: Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo (São Paulo, Brazil)
Technique: Oil On Canvas
The monções were 18th-century river expeditions frequently launched from the port at Arariguaba – currently the city of Porto Feliz – Which voyaged down the Tietê river in long wooden canoes toward Cuianá, in search of gold. This arduous trip took about five months. Reports from that era tell that one of the expeditions consisted of more than 300 canoes and about 3 thousand people.Thi is one of three studies for the only painting by Almeida Júnior featuring a large number of figures. The canvas is divided diagonally into two groups: those who leave, on the left, and those who stay, on the right. The link between the two parts is given by a man in one of the canoes, practically the center of the composition, who pulling a rope, pulling a craft to the shore. The same linking role is also played by another figure – na adventurer carrying a leather shoulder sack, with a rifle slung over his right shoulder and wearing a red banana around his neck. This adventure seems to be saying good bye to a crying woman, whose pose Almeida Júnior would use again in the painting
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