
Os três ou quatro estados (The Three or Four States)
1927 · Gouache on paper
9 1/16 × 6 5/16" (23 × 16 cm)
Museum of Modern Art

Ismael Nery was a Brazilian painter and sculptor whose brief career, cut short by his death at thirty-four, established him as a modernist pioneer in early twentieth-century Latin America. Working primarily in oil and bronze during the 1920s and early 1930s, he developed a distinctive visual language that merged Symbolist and Surrealist influences with Brazilian subject matter. His work engaged with themes of spirituality, the human figure, and geometric abstraction. Though his output was limited by his early death, Nery's formal innovations and conceptual ambitions positioned him as a significant figure in Brazilian modernism.
Source: Moma Bulk 2026 05 04 · Trust score: 92% · Updated 1mo ago