A descoberta da terra
Portinari's first painting, Discovery of the Land, is dominated not by captains or the admirals or the priests of the conquest but by the common sailors who manned the fleet. This mural has the most baroque composition of the series. It is divided vertically by the twisting ropes of the ship's rigging and ladders. The sweeping diagonals of the gunwales and the swirling masses of water join with the powerful exultant figures of the men to heighten the movement and excitement of the scene. The wind of conquest and of expectation seems to blow through the picture and the effect is heightened by the Tiepolo-like blues and greys and whites, the true tonalities of the sea, that predominate.
