Instituto Rouanet is the latest of Tiradentes’ many artistic venues. The former home of my acquaintances, Sergio (1934-2022) and Barbara Rouanet, it was renovated and transformed into a charming exhibition space in the historic center, since 2022.

Appropriately, the current exhibition is from recent (2024) works of one of the town’s longest resident painters, Sérgio Ramos, whose gallery is several blocks away – where he has exhibited for ten years now. Sérgio, a trained architect, brings a gentle sensibility to the historic townscapes of the interior of Minas Gerais, where the Portuguese colonial style collided with an exuberant sense of the baroque, and the Brazilian cultural identity (as opposed to a Portuguese colonial one) was born.

The institute is a charming stop, to see the latest in Brazilian artistic endeavors, as well as be welcomed into the intimate space of a renovated and eccentric colonial home. The couples’ personal book collections are still on view, giving the sensation that a good conversation is only a step away.  [please hover over images for captions]