Abaporu

My world is full of bright, happy colors. A big, yellow sun, like a giant lemon drop, hangs in a calm blue sky. I have only one plant for a friend, a spiky green cactus that stands up straight and tall. But what about me. I'm a funny sight. I have one gigantic foot that feels the warm ground, a body that can stretch like slime, and a teeny-tiny head. My head is so small, I have to rest it on my hand, like I'm thinking a very deep thought. Before you even learn my name, you see my silly, wonderful shape. I am a painting, a dream from a sunny place called Brazil. My name is Abaporu.

My story began in a busy room called a studio, in a big city in Brazil named São Paulo. A very talented artist, Tarsila do Amaral, brought me to life. She dipped her brushes into globs of bright, beautiful paint and carefully painted me onto a canvas. She worked with love because I was a secret. On a special day, January 11th, 1928, I was finished. Tarsila gave me as a birthday surprise to her husband, Oswald de Andrade, who was a famous writer. When Oswald unwrapped me, his jaw dropped. He had never, ever seen a person in a painting who looked like me. He was so surprised and excited. He and one of his friends decided to give me a special name from the language of the Tupi-Guarani people who first lived in Brazil. They called me 'Abaporu,' which means 'the man who eats.' It sounds a little strange, but it was their way of saying I was powerful and full of big ideas.

Seeing my giant foot and tiny head gave Oswald a super big idea. He thought, 'What if artists in Brazil could be like Abaporu.'. In that same year, 1928, he wrote a famous paper called the 'Anthropophagic Manifesto.' That’s a big word, but the idea was simple. He said that Brazilian artists could look at art from other countries, 'eat' all the ideas they liked, and then use them to make something brand new and special that was all their own, just like Brazil. I got to be the star of this idea. My painting became a symbol, a picture that showed everyone it was awesome to be different. I helped artists feel brave enough to create things that came from their own hearts and home.

After I was created, I went on many adventures, traveling to different cities and living in different homes. It was exciting to be seen by so many people. Then, in 1995, I found a forever home. I was brought to a wonderful museum in Buenos Aires, a city in Argentina. This is where I live today. Children and grown-ups come from all over the world to visit me. They smile at my big foot and my thoughtful little head. I love sharing my sunny world and reminding everyone that a single idea in a painting can help change the world.