57 Color Culture and Science Journal Vol. 13 (2) DOI: 10.23738/CCSJ.130207b 

The red of Lina and Oscar 
Luiza Paes de Barros Camara de Lucia Betlramini

1
, Paulo César Castral

1
 

1 
Institute of Architecture and Urbanism, University of São Paulo, São Carlos, Brazil. 

luiza.beltramini@usp.br, pcastral@usp.br 

Corresponding author: Luiza Paes de Barros Camara de Lucia Beltramini (luiza.beltramini@usp.br) 

 

 

ABSTRACT 

The article gives a brief history of modernist architects Lina Bo Bardi and Oscar Niemeyer and tries, through 
a bibliographic review and visual analysis, to identify meanings, analyze the generated spatiality and 
understand the impact caused by the repetitive and striking use of the red color. To do so, a brief history of 
the color red and how it was mastered, perceived, and appropriated by humans over the centuries is traced, 
and, finally, three essential projects of each architect are analyzed. We conclude narratives for the reds of 
Lina and Oscar, who go through the communist history of the characters, visual indications, and the theory 
of functionalism. 
 

KEYWORDS Modernism, Brazilian modernism, red, Oscar Niemeyer, Lina Bo Bardi 

 

RECEIVED 23/03/2021; REVISED 12/08/2021; ACCEPTED 14/10/2021 

 

 

 

 

  



The red of Lina an Oscar 

58 Color Culture and Science Journal Vol. 13 (2) DOI: 10.23738/CCSJ.130207b 

1. Modern Brazilian Architecture 

According to Lúcio Costa (1902 –1998), modernism in 

Brazil is justified by the affirmation of the identity of our 

culture and representing the "spirit of the time." For Oba 

(2014), this movement, which prioritized function, caused 

Brazilian architects much interest. The French-Swiss 

architect Le Corbusier had a significant influence on the 

formation of modern thought in Brazilian architects. The 

discussion about modern issues gained substantial 

prominence in Brazil after the constant migratory 

movements in the post-war period, whether from 

Brazilians who returned after studying abroad or from 

foreigners looking for an opportunity outside Europe in 

crisis. 

It is important to note that not only did the European crisis 

repel professionals, but the condition of Brazil attracted 

them. Cavalcanti (2001 apud Lobato, 2009) states that 

good economic conditions, the government's will to 

establish a new face for the federal capital, and a 

generation of revolutionary intellectuals and architects 

made modern Brazilian architecture a reality. With the 

new republic, the change in the bases of production of 

national wealth and the migration of the status of Brazil 

from an agrarian to an emerging country creates a 

demand for buildings that represent this recent phase of 

the country. These works were mainly from the 

government of Getúlio Vargas (1930-1945), which had as 

one of its priorities the construction of buildings to house 

government agencies of the new administration 

(Cavalcanti 2001 cited Lobato, 2009). 

Among the various possibilities for discussing the use of 

color in this historical-cultural context, two Brazilian 

architects were selected for a more careful look at this 

article due to the recognized influence in the unfolding of 

the issues opened by the avant-garde. The works 

analyzed, both three examples of Lina Bo Bardi as three 

of Oscar Niemeyer have a marked cultural nature. In 

addition to the programs themselves, such a 

characteristic is manifested in the condition of manifestos 

about what architecture is, which this type of order 

allows. In this sense, party issues are displayed more 

clearly, making it possible to investigate the meanings of 

design actions and how the definition of red, present in all 

the works to be analyzed, contributes to the creation of 

the architectural discourse of each architect. 

1.1. Lina Bo Bardi 

The architect was born on 5 Dec. 1914 in Rome, Italy. 

She graduated in architecture from the Faculty of 

Architecture of the University of Rome. After graduating, 

she moved to Milan, where, after working for Gio Ponti, 

she became the editor of the magazine Quaderni di 

Domus. During the Second World War, she founded with 

Bruno Zaevi the publication A-Cultura dela Vita and is a 

member of the Italian Communist Party. In 1946, she 

married the journalist and art critic Pedro M. Bardi (1909-

1999), and, in that same year, they left for Brazil, where 

she was naturalized in 1951. 

Initially, she lived in Rio de Janeiro-RJ, then the country's 

capital, where she had the opportunity to expand her 

influences and knowledge of the new country. However, 

when she moved to São Paulo (SP) - after Pietro was 

invited to found and direct the Museum of Art of Sao 

Paulo Assis Chateaubriand - MASP - Lina turns icon of 

modern Brazilian architecture. In 1950 Lina founded 

Habitat magazine - an important cultural vehicle that 

included art, architecture, design, cinema, theater, music, 

photography. In 1951 she built her residence - the Glass 

House - which is currently the headquarters of the 

Instituto Lina Bo e P. M. Bardi. In 1957 construction 

began on the new MASP headquarters - Lina's first 

project that will be analyzed in the article - in 1959, "she 

is invited by the governor of Bahia to direct the Museum 

of Modern Art of Bahia (MAM-BA)" (Instituto Bardi, 2020), 

in the same year she restores Solar do Unhão - second 

project analyzed in the article. In 1977, the third project 

analyzed in this article began to be constructed - the 

Centro de Lazer Sesc - Fábrica Pompéia in São Paulo 

(SP). 

1.2 Oscar Niemeyer 

Oscar Niemeyer was a Brazilian, born in Rio de Janeiro-

RJ on 15 Dec. 1907. He studied at the National School of 

Fine Arts (now the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro). 

In his third year, he interns with Lúcio Costa - a future 

urban planner responsible for the new national capital 

Brasília (1960). Lúcio Costa was invited, in 1936, by the 

then Minister of Education Gustavo Capanema to design 

the new headquarters of the Ministry of Education and 

Health. Lúcio brings together a group of young architects; 

Lúcio still insists that Le Corbusier be invited as a 

consultant. Despite not inviting Oscar from the beginning, 

he ends up calling him. In this way, Oscar contributes to 

the project that is considered one of the foremost modern 

Brazilian architectural landmarks, the Gustavo 

Capanema Palace. After that, Oscar falls in the graces of 

important figures - as the best example, we have the 

governor of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil's future 

president and founder of Brasilia, Juscelino Kubitschek. 

Oscar lived 104 years and worked until the last years of 

his life, resulting in a vast collection of works, drawings, 

and sketches. In 2003, nine years before his death, he 

was asked to design his first building in Britain as part of 

a Serpentine Gallery action devising the third work 

analyzed in this article. 



The red of Lina an Oscar 

59 Color Culture and Science Journal Vol. 13 (2) DOI: 10.23738/CCSJ.130207b 

2. The Red 

According to Michel Pastoureau (2017), red was the first 

color that humans dominated, manufactured, reproduced, 

and discovered different tones, first in painting and later 

in the dye. According to the same author, this also 

explains why in some languages, the same word means 

"red,” "beautiful," and "colorful." Le Corbusier (Serra 

Llunch, 2013) agreed and guaranteed that red affirmed 

its presence. One of the primary colors is considered a 

warm color (Argan, 1992) and has been widely used with 

mastery by great artists such as Pietro Mondrian, Vassili 

Kandinsky, Marc Chagal, Ellsworth Kelly, and Mark 

Rothko. 

Outside the artistic field, the color red is also very 

representative. According to Klein (2018), red has been a 

symbol of power and government since antiquity 

permeating the Middle Ages; it was worn by Roman 

emperors, popes, and European sovereigns. During the 

French Revolution, a movement that, according to some 

authors, inaugurates the Contemporary Age, the 

Jacobins, and sans-culottes as identification dressed in a 

red cap. During the 20th century, the color red was 

adopted by communist movements, workers, and 

socialist movements, in the sense of fraternity. In this 

context, the color was also associated with the hope of a 

better life, as well as with blood and suffering. 

2.1 Museum of Art of São Paulo – São Paulo, São 

Paulo – Brazil 

The Museum of Art of São Paulo was founded in 1947 by 

Assis Chateaubriand (1892-1968), businessman and 

patron of São Paulo. The first modern museum in the 

country was directed by the Italian critic and dealer Pietro 

Maria Bardi, Lina's husband. Initially, it worked on one 

floor of a business building and moved to the current 

location in 1968. The location of the building itself is 

iconic, situated on the most famous avenue in the 

country's financial capital; it is still under the intersection 

of another avenue. The landmark of the history of 20th-

century architecture is based on the use of concrete and 

glass. Its 74-meter span has always been a geographical 

reference and meeting point. 

The four massive pillars that support the volume above 

this span and the beams that make up this structural 

effort are bright red. Although, since the beginning of the 

sketches, the red color appeared and, according to 

Miyoshi (2006), it was an old idea for Lina to use the 

color, initially, the beams had no color; they were in 

apparent concrete without any aesthetic treatment. In the 

1990s, to solve an infiltration problem, a company 

donated products "for the protection of exposed concrete 

against deterioration" (Miyoshi, 2006, p. 143). The color 

chosen by Lina is fire-fighter red (fig.1); in addition to 

transforming the building into a "cultural event" (Miyoshi, 

2006, p. 143), the proposal aimed to encourage the use 

of paints that fled white or ice accounted for 70% of 

national consumption (Miyoshi, 2006). 

On the floors below the span, there are two stair-ramps 

also in red (fig.2). The proposal made by Lina Bo Bardi, 

in this sense, reserves the use of red in two distinct 

functions, structure and circulation. The red elements 

bring common the desire to signal, point out, and 

distinguish the elements put in color. Architecture should 

be understood as a set of elements articulated 

throughout but with their particularities. 

 

 

Fig. 1 – MASP, (KON, N.) 

 

 

Fig. 2 – Stair-ramps. (KON, N.) 

 

2.2 The Solar do Unhão – Salvador Bahia, Brazil 

Upon receiving the invitation to direct the Museum of 

Modern Art, Lina stayed in Salvador, Bahia, between 

1959 and 1964, where she found another face of 

Brazilian identity, the African face. The museum is 



The red of Lina an Oscar 

60 Color Culture and Science Journal Vol. 13 (2) DOI: 10.23738/CCSJ.130207b 

located in Solar do Unhão, an existing building that 

needed to be restored and adapted to receive such a 

program. Due to her experience in post-World War II 

Italy, Lina applies critical restoration to the set of 

buildings (Cerávolo, 2010, p. 219). The use of the color 

red in the external frames (fig. 3) was not agreed with 

heritage agencies; Cerávolo (2010) states that the colors 

of the facades and frames would be specified later after 

submission to the National Heritage agency. Finally, the 

choice of red color did not pass through the appreciation 

of Organs responsible agencies; Azevedo (1963 apud 

CERÁVOLO, 2010, p. 234) characterizes this and other 

choices as a "loss for the monument." 

In the Solar do Unhão project, what can be perceived is 

the use of red as a signaling act with intentionality close 

to the use of color in the MASP project. The architect with 

her choice reveals her look at the historical construction 

processes belonging to the work involved, the difference 

between the brick-built in masonry, and the openings 

treated in wood. By observing the set, one can learn the 

difference between the fixed parts and the moving parts, 

employing colors, enabling many other inferences about 

the architectural qualities. 

 

Fig. 3. Solar do Unhão’s Entrance. . (Kon, N.) 

 

2.3 Sesc Pompéia – São Paulo, São Paulo – Brazil 

Lina was invited in 1977 by Renato Requeixa and 

Gláucia Amaral, then directors of the SESC - Social 

Service of Commerce, to transform the Mauser Brothers' 

old drums factory into a leisure center. The project 

develops over nine years with the help of students and 

recent graduates (Ferraz, 2008). The new public facility 

should promote social harmony, cultural production, and 

the social welfare of the city's population. With the 

addition of two large exposed concrete prisms to the 

original set, the project gained prominence, the blocks 

receiving sports equipment were inaugurated in 1986. 

The apertures of the lower block have an amoeboid form, 

while in the more massive block, they are square but do 

not follow orthogonal alignment. In both buildings, the 

openings are closed in red wooden trellis (fig. 4). In 

addition to the use of red in the frames, several 

installations, such as air ducts, truss fittings, handrails, 

throughout the complex, which a priori should go 

unnoticed, become red and stand out in the landscape. 

 

Fig. 4. Sport blocks - Sesc Pompéia. (Kon, N.) 

 

The Sesc Pompéia project reveals the coherence of the 

architect's plastic research. An intention in the sports 

blocks is very close to that seen at Solar do Unhão. 

Despite different situations, the same desire is to signal 

and differentiate between fixed, open, and mobile 

openings. The amoeboid shape in one block, and the 

misalignment, in the other block reveals the constructive 

possibilities of concrete as much as the rhythm and 

alignment reveal the limits of masonry in the Solar. 

2.4 Museum of Contemporary Art of Niterói (MAC), 

Niterói, Rio de Janeiro – Brazil 

The museum on the banks of Guanabara Bay in Niterói 

was designed in collaboration with structural engineer 

Bruno Contarini. Completed in 1996, the cylinder blooms 

like a flower composing the landscape for which it is also a 

viewpoint. Its circular shape includes a large glass opening 



The red of Lina an Oscar 

61 Color Culture and Science Journal Vol. 13 (2) DOI: 10.23738/CCSJ.130207b 

that allows visitors to the museum to appreciate all the 

natural beauty that surrounds it. With its main body at 16 

meters high, access is via a winding concrete ramp that 

allows visitors to appreciate the landscape and the building 

itself on a 98-meter long architectural promenade full of 

changing perspectives. The invitation and marking of the 

ramp take place through its red fire floor, a plastic decision 

to highlight the access of the large white volume (fig. 5). 

 

 

Fig. 5. Museum of Contemporary Art (Leonardo Finotti In: 
SEGRE, 2010) 

 

 

Fig.6 Main facade with access ramp – (Modern 

Architecture London) 

 

2.5 Serpentine Gallery Summer Pavilion – London, 

United Kingdom 

The Serpentine Gallery pavilion aims to give visibility to 

architects who do not yet have a project in the UK, so the 

talent of the professional can be shared and appreciated 

by a new audience strolling through Hyde Park. The 

pavilion is part of an annual event produced by the 

gallery that performs its assembly at the beginning of the 

London summer and is dismantled at the end of the 

same season (Allen, 2018). For 21 years, this annual 

event has featured projects by great architects, and in 

2003 it was Oscar Niemeyer's turn. 

With clear traces of modernism, it was "built-in concrete, 

painted white and accessed by a ramp" (Doroteo, 2016). 

A synthesis of significant elements of the architect's best-

known projects, a grand gesture of drawing, loose from 

the terrain, unfolds in a single direction and generates the 

spatiality of the ensemble. This gesture is presented in 

white, being emphasized at the entrance by a void, built 

away from the closings, and accessed by a ramp with a 

red cover (fig 6), and at the back by a red plane. 

2.6 Auditorium – Ibirapuera – São Paulo, São Paulo – 

Brazil 

Conceived by the then governor of the state of São 

Paulo, José Pires do Rio, the park that would be modeled 

after great European examples such as Hyde Park in 

London or Boi de Boulogne in Paris. Parque do 

Ibirapuera occupies a total of 157,000 m² and was only 

opened in 1954 due to the drainage problem that the land 

presented. The problem was solved by the then official 

Manequinho Lopes, who decided to plant hundreds of 

Australian eucalyptus on the ground to drain the water in 

the region.  

 

 

Fig.7. Ibirapuera Auditorium (Kon, N.) 

 

Oscar Niemeyer designed the buildings that make up the 

park's infrastructure, and Burle Marx should run 

landscaping, but the latter was not executed. The park's 

program has various equipment such as temporary 

exhibition spaces, museums, auditoriums, lakes, and 

planetariums. Despite the vast program here, we will 

analyze only the auditorium. Initially, the building was not 

completed and was only completed in 2005, almost 50 

years after the park opened. The auditorium is a trapezoid 

with its entrance marked by a red marquee (fig.7), 



The red of Lina an Oscar 

62 Color Culture and Science Journal Vol. 13 (2) DOI: 10.23738/CCSJ.130207b 

nicknamed Flint (Dudeque, 2009). In addition to the 

punctual presence at the entrance, the back of the 

auditorium (which is reversible) (fig. 8), the large opening 

door of the stage is also a large red rectangle that strongly 

marks the white prism.  

 

Fig.8. Ibirapuera Auditorium Back Door (Kon, N.)   

 

Oscar Niemeyer adopts a very controlled color/material 

palette that uses only white, red, and wood. White is 

reserved for opaque surfaces built, while the wood is for 

the handrail and some acoustic coverings. Red is 

highlighted not for a specific function but for 

accompanying the user/spectator through their 

experience in the auditorium spaces. First, it signals the 

entrance unequivocally with the marquee and 

immediately welcomes the route along the internal ramp 

(fig. 9) to the audience spaces through the floor covering. 

It would be a matter of signaling, as in the previous 

cases. However, the experiential issue is highlighted 

when it is emphasized when inviting Tomie Otake to 

make a sculpture in red. The artist's occupation of the 

wall and ceiling radiate throughout the space through the 

reflection of color. Red expands its signaling and didactic 

function to become the poetic accent of the proposal. 

 

 

Fig.9. Intern Ramp – Ibirapuera Auditorium (Kon, N.)                        

3. Conclusion 

The secure connection of the two architects, Lina and 

Oscar, with the premise of modern architecture remained 

faithful to the attention to the functionalism typical of the 

avant-garde of the beginning of the 20th century. The red 

of Lina and Oscar may have had different origins; they 

are in sympathy with communism and in the certainty of 

marking their projects with vivid and exquisite colors. 

Kandinsky's theories fostered this avant-garde by 

attributing spiritual qualities to very few geometric 

elements and colors; for him, for example, "red is 

extremely immobile by a restless color, vivacious and 

active ... immense and almost inconsequential force" 

(Luz, 2014, p.214). The perceptual intensity of the red is 

adopted by the two architects, analyzed here, as a 

cognitive resource to signal what architecture is built on. 

Lina Bo Bardi's case, with a strong emphasis on the 

tectonic issues of the work in its plastic dimension 

through a didactic approach, is one of the ways she 

found of forming the critical conscience of modern man. 

In the case of Oscar Niemeyer, this social function 

emphasizes this social awareness due to its poetic 

dimension through the valorization of the experience of 

color. The two architects fixed themselves in the 

collective imagination as irreverent, bold, and brilliant; 

undoubtedly, they pictorially red-marked both histories. 

 

4. Conflict of interest declaration 

The authors declare that nothing affected their objectivity 

or independence and original work. Therefore, no conflict 

of interest exists. 

 

5. Funding source declaration 

This research did not receive any specific grant from 

Funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-

profit sectors. 

 

6. Short biography of the author(s) 

Luiza Beltramini - Master's student at the Institute of 

Architecture and Urbanism at the University of São 

Paulo, a researcher at N.ELAC, Research Support 

Center for Language Studies in Architecture and City. 

Graduated in Interior Design (IFPB) and Architecture and 

Urbanism (UFPB), she is currently researching aspects of 

spatial design and perception, emphasizing the 

promenade architecturale. 

Paulo César Castral - Ph.D. Professor at the Institute of 

Architecture and Urbanism of the University of São 



The red of Lina an Oscar 

63 Color Culture and Science Journal Vol. 13 (2) DOI: 10.23738/CCSJ.130207b 

Paulo, Research Group on Language Studies in 

Architecture and City (N.ELAC) coordinator, is 

responsible for the research line Perception of 

Architecture and the City. Holds a doctorate in Multimedia 

(UNICAMP), a master's degree in Architecture and 

Urbanism (EESC/USP), and a degree in Architecture and 

Urbanism (EESC/USP). 

 

References 

Allen, K. (2018) ‘O que acontece com os Pavilhões da Serpentine 
Gallery quando são desmontados?’ [Life after Serpentine: Second Lives 
of Architecture's Famed Pavilions] 19 Out 2018. ArchDaily Brasil 
[Online]. (Trad. Souza, Eduardo) Avaiable at: 
https://www.archdaily.com.br/br/904239/o-que-acontece-com-os-
pavilhoes-da-serpentine-gallery-quando-sao-desmontados ISSN 0719-
8906 (Acessed: 4 Jul 2020). 

Argan, G. C. (1992) Arte moderna: do Iluminismo aos movimentos 
contemporâneos. 2ª ed. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras. 

Doroteo, J. (2016) 'Arquivo: O Serpentine Pavilion ao longo dos anos' 
[Round-Up: The Serpentine Pavilion Through the Years]. ArchDaily 
Brasil [Online]. (Trad. Sbeghen Ghisleni, Camila). Available at 
https://www.archdaily.com.br/br/790840/arquivo-serpentine-pavilion-ao-
longo-dos-anos ISSN 0719-8906 (Accessed 6 Jul. 2020). 

Dudeque, M. C. (2009). ‘O lugar na obra de Oscar Niemeyer’. Master 
thesis, University of São Paulo, São Paulo. 

Cerávolo, A. L. (2010). Interpretações do patrimônio: arquitetura e 
urbanismo moderno na constituição de uma cultura de intervenção no 
Brasil, anos 1930-60. PhD thesis, Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos, 
Universidade de São Paulo, São Carlos. [Onlinne] Avaiable at: 
https://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/18/18142/tde-04052011-
151700/pt-br.php doi:10.11606/T.18.2010.tde-04052011-151700. 
(Accessed 7 jul. 2020). 

Ferraz, M. C. (2008) ‘Numa velha fábrica de tambores. Sesc Pompeia 
comemora 25 anos. Minha Cidade’, São Paulo, ano 08, n. 093.01, 
Vitruvius [Online], Avaiable at: 
https://www.vitruvius.com.br/revistas/read/minhacidade/08.093/1897 
(Accessed: 06 jul 2020). 

Instituto Bardi. Linha do Tempo – Lina Bo Bardi [Online]. No date. 
Brasil. Available at:  http://www.institutobardi.com.br/linha_tempo.asp 
(Accessed: 4 Jul. 2020). 

Klein. S. ‘Empalidecimento de uma cor política’. Goethe [Online]. 2018 
Available at: https://www.goethe.de/ins/br/pt/kul/fok/hum/21254970.html 
(Accessed: 04 jul 2020). 

Kon, N. Masp [Online]. Available at: 
https://www.nelsonkon.com.br/masp/ (Accessed: 10 Jul. 2020) 

Lobato. M. L. (2009). ‘Considerações sobre o espaço público e edifícios 
modernos de uso misto no centro de São Paulo’. Master thesis. 
University of São Paulo, São Paulo [Online]. Available at:  
http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/16/16138/tde-12032010-
155108/pt-br.php (Acessed: 20 ago. 2018). 

Luz, V. (2014). Ordem e Origem em Lina Bo Bardi. 1st. edn. Giostri. 
São Paulo 

Miyoshi, A. (2006)‘Entre a origem e a degradação. A primeira reforma 
do edifício do Museu de Arte de São Paulo’. Revista de História da Arte 
e Arqueologia , v. 6, p. 137-148, Avaiable at: 
https://www.unicamp.br/chaa/rhaa/downloads/Revista%206%20-
%20artigo%2011.pdf (Accessed 17 feb. 2020) 

Modern Architecture London. (2003). Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2003. 
[Online]. Available at: 
http://modernarchitecturelondon.com/buildings/serpentine-2003.php 
(Accessed 6 Jul. 2020).  

Oba, M. M. (2014) ‘O projeto de readequação visando a construção 
mais sustentável no edifício moderno: estudo de caso sobe o Centro 
Politécnico da UFPR’. Master thesis. [Online]. Federal University of 
Paraná. Curitiba. Available at:  
https://acervodigital.ufpr.br/handle/1884/36342 (Acessed: 20 ago. 
2018). 

Pastoureau, M. (2017). Red: the history of a color. 2nd edn. Princeton, 
New Jersey: Princeton University Press.  

Segre, Roberto. (2010). Museu Brasileiros. Rio de Janeiro: Viana & 
Mosley.  

Serra Lluch, J. (2013). 'Three color strategies in architectural 
composition.' Color Research and Application. 38(4):238-250 [Online]. 
doi:10.1002/col.21717. (Accessed: 17 Feb. 2020).