Instituto Moreira Salles

Instituto Moreira Salles, found in 1992 in Poços de Caldas, Minas Gerais, is a Brazilian cultural institute concerned with photography, music, literature, and iconography. IMS holds extensive collections and regular exhibitions across Poços de Caldas and locations in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo from which the institute primarily operates with exhibition spces and cultural centers open to the public. 
==History==
The main unit of the network was run out of Rio de Janeiro between 1999 and 2010. The IMS Paulista, moving from its smaller space in Higienópolis after 20 years, became the primary unit on Avenida Paulista, São Paulo.
==Cultural Focus==
IMS is widely known for its diverse artistic contributions in four primary areas: photography, music, literature, and iconography. Photography in particular comprises a prominent portion of its collection. 
===Photography===
IMS's Photography Division boasts around 2 million images, encompassing critical 19th-century works by Marc Ferrez and 20th-century collections from renowned photographers. It also includes a significant acquisition from the Diários Associados group in Rio de Janeiro, emphasizing the integration of 21st-century images. In 2016, the Instituto Moreira Salles (IMS) announced it had acquired a significant collection from the Diários Associados group, doubling its photographic archive to approximately two million images. This collection, spanning from 1915 to 2005, includes photographs and negatives from prominent Brazilian newspapers and magazines.
===Music===
The Music Division houses a vast collection of early Brazilian musical recordings, including 78 rpm records and 21,000 phonograms. It features collections from notable Brazilian composers such as Chiquinha Gonzaga, Ernesto Nazareth, and Pixinguinha.
===Literature===
IMS's Literature Division contains letters, papers, books, and documents from influential Brazilian writers like Otto Lara Resende, Erico Verissimo, and Clarice Lispector, offering insights into Brazil's literary history.
===Iconography===
The Iconography Division holds an all-paper collection of watercolors, engravings, and drawings, primarily from traveling artists in the 19th century. Notable contributors include Charles Landseer and Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius.
==Exhibitions and Cinema==
The Institute is renowned for organizing visual arts exhibitions that showcase works of Brazilian and international artists. Additionally, IMS holds a special interest in cinema. 
The inaugural exhibition at IMS Paulista was The Clock (2010), a video installation by Swiss-American artist Christian Marclay, which won the Golden Lion at the 2011 Venice Biennale.
==Architecture==
The São Paulo museum's design elevates the ground floor to the center of the building, creating a new and open relationship between the museum, the city, and its inhabitants. This shift from the ground level to an elevated platform aimed at a new articulation of internal museum spaces and a refreshed perspective of the city. The façade, with a double-layered translucent glass skin, ensures a light quality corresponding to a calm and welcoming interior envisioned for the museum. The choice of materials, such as Portuguese mosaic flooring and basalt, were chosen to reflect to build meaningful relationships with the city. The use of translucent glass as a second skin defines the museum as a distinct volume within the urban landscape, while its light and translucency properties create a variable perception depending on the environment and the observer's position.
The building, situated on Paulista Avenue near the intersection with Rua Consolação, was designed to be an attraction in itself. Featuring a mirrored facade and natural lighting, it aims to be self-sustainable and create a continuity between the sidewalk and the interior space, inviting pedestrians to enter. The architectural project, by the firm Andrade Morettin, was chosen in 2011 through a competition judged by a jury from five prominent Brazilian companies. The entire project represents an investment of 80 million reais, raised without tax incentives, like the rest of the institute's projects.
==Funding and Support==
Initial funding was provided by Unibanco, with subsequent contributions from the Moreira Salles family. This support enables IMS to sustain and grow its cultural projects.
==Publications==
IMS actively publishes in various formats, including exhibition catalogs, books on photography, literature, music, and two notable periodicals - ZUM Magazine, focusing on contemporary photography globally, and Serrote, a quarterly magazine of essays and ideas.
==Cultural Impact==
As a widely visible institution, IMS promotes artistic and intellectual activities in Brazil, contributing to the country's cultural heritage across multiple disciplines.
Category:Companies of Brazil
Category:Companies established in 1992
Category:Photographs