Bio

1919, Vitória da Conquista, Bahia, Brazil – 1977, Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Madalena Santos Reinbolt was a Brazilian artist born in Vitória da Conquista, Bahia. Between knitting needles and paintbrushes, Madalena created canvases around country scenes that were
part of the memory of her youth in her hometown. Rural themes populate the imaginary of her work. Animals, celestial bodies, vegetation, and everyday life scenes mix with her paints on the
canvases she painted in the 1950s and the weaves of the “wool paintings” she produced later, in 1969. Embroidered on burlap, a material the artist often used, the reliefs composed by the yarns
bring to life images that mediate society and nature, a beautiful fusion of imagery in this plastic representation created by the artist.

Madalena Santos Reinbolt left her hometown in her early 20s. She lived in Salvador, São Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro, where she worked as a domestic worker, before settling in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, where she lived until her death, in 1977.