our local guide suggested a visit as it was one of the few museums open on a Monday. What a surprise! Two floors of interesting paintings and lithographs of local scenes from late 19th and early 20th century and a Picasso! The highlight was a room of lithographs of individual animals... Quite superb.

This bankers home on top of one of the many hills of Rio de Janeiro was designed in the fifties by Wladimir Alves de Souza. The yellow stone covering the facades and the refinement of the materials and the exquisite finishings inside, remember the once so popular art deco style. The gardens were designed by Roberto Burle Marx and offer a fascinating view on downtown Rio. By the way: 'Chácara do Céu' stands for 'Heavenly Estate' and that's exactly how I felt when strolling around the interior, as well as enjoying the exterior. The collection is very rich with European names such as Degas, Matisse, Modigliani, Seurat or Miró. But I'm quite sure Brazilian artists like Di Cavalcanti, Portinari or Iberê Camargo will impress too. And there's of course french Jean-Baptiste Debret, depicting the horrible life of the black slaves between 1816 and 1831. Not to be missed!