About

Ione Saldanha e Etel Adnan: two colorists

Ione Saldanha (1919-2001) and Etel Adnan (1925-2021) never met, nor did they see each other’s works. Ione was Brazilian, lived most of her life in Rio de Janeiro; Etel was Lebanese, and lived between San Francisco and Paris. In 2012, the Kassel Documenta dedicated an entire room to Adnans paintings. At that point in time, I was working on a retrospective of Saldanha’s works for the MAM-Rio, Fundação Iberê Camargo and MON. I was immediately surprised by the affinity between both artists: the vibration of color, their lyrical sensitivity, the poetic …