Lygia Clark

Lygia Clark's work is included in prominent institutional collections both in Brazil and globally, such as the MAC/USP, Centre Pompidou, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, Tate Modern in London, and MoMA – The Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Biography of Lygia Clark

Lygia Clark was born in 1920. From an early age, she demonstrated a keen interest in drawing. This passion for art blossomed into a distinguished career.

After moving to Rio de Janeiro with her husband in 1938, Clark began her artistic training under the guidance of Roberto Burle Marx. Her quest for expression led her to Paris in the 1950s, where she studied under the tutelage of luminaries such as Fernand Léger, Isaac Dobrinsky, and Árpád Szenes, immersing herself in the vibrant artistic milieu of post-war Europe.

Upon her return to Brazil, Clark became a pivotal figure in the local art scene, joining the Grupo Frente and co-founding the Grupo Neoconcreto. During this period, Clark's artistic practice underwent a profound transformation, as she transitioned from painting to three-dimensional objects.

By 1964, she held an exhibition at the Signals Gallery in London, which helped to internationalize her work. By 1968, she focused on sensory exploration in works such as "A Casa é o Corpo."

Between 1970 and 1976, she lived in Paris, where she lectured at the Faculté d'Arts Plastiques St. Charles at the Sorbonne. During this period, she shifted away from creating aesthetic objects, emphasizing instead bodily experiences where various materials facilitated interactions among participants.

Lygia Clark returned to Brazil in 1976, dedicating herself to exploring the therapeutic possibilities of sensory art and relational objects. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Clark's research in psychology and philosophy—partly inspired by her own experiences in psychotherapy—drove her efforts to unify art and life. In the final decade of her life, she developed and engaged in a therapeutic practice known as "Estruturação do Self" ("Structuring the Self").