National Museum of Fine Arts

National Museum of Fine Arts, museum of art in Rio de Janeiro, formally established in 1937. The original collection was inherited from the National School of Fine Arts (formerly the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts). It comprised art from the personal collection of King John VI of Portugal; paintings brought from France by Joaquim Lebreton, who arrived in Brazil in 1816 as the head of the French Artistic Mission; and work by the artists that formed the Mission. The collection continued to grow to include art from the 20th and 21st centuries.

The museum is located in a building designed by Spanish architect Adolfo Morales de los Rios in 1908. The National School of Fine Arts was also housed there until 1976, when it became part of the University City of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. The collection includes paintings and sculptures by Brazilian artists from the 19th to the 21st century, including Coffee by Cândido Portinari and works by Emiliano de Cavalcanti and Tarsila do Amaral. Foreign art is well represented with a series of views of Pernambuco, Brazil, by Frans Post and with examples of European art from the 13th century to the present. The collection also includes coins, decorative arts, furniture, and African art.