The purpose of this work is to look at the possibilities for elaborating a historical survey of the plastic arts in Belo Horizonte, by way of critical and historiographic review and through the sensitivity of plastic artists, photographers and videomakers. It involved reconstructing the past century's history of the city, focusing on the visual language and its interchange with other artistic expressions (1).
We consider art as a constructive activity in the life of cities and the urban context as the space in which artistic objects develope and so are present throughout planning, in building architecture, in house decorations, in churches, in the palaces, even in the dress and ornamentation used by its inhabitants (2).
From these considerations, we center our review on the changes that occured in the artistic view of Belo Horizonte during this century.
Belo Horizonte was built in the last decade of the 19th century, as a city planned in accord with the modern republican concept and following the ideal model of a neoclassical city. The urban plan was conceived by engineer Aarão Reis, chief of the Building Commision for the New Capital. This ordered space concept was concentrated in the urban zone of the city, where the parallel streets and octagonal avenues were geometrically designed, converging on the public squares. The plan appeared much like a chess board circled by Contorno Avenue, which suggested an imaginary wall circling the city. In the central area, the governor's mansion and official buildings were built following the eclectic model and art nouveau ornamentation, along with the Boa Viagem Mother Church, the Municipal Park, the Central Market and houses for public workers.
European immigrants emerged as the first building artists in Belo Horizonte - Émile Rouède, Frederico Steckel, Luis Olivieri, João Amadeu Mucchiut, the Natali brothers, Francisco Soucasaux and Igino Bonfioli - painters, sculptors and photographers, natives of France, Germany, Austria and Italy, who introduced landscaping, symbolism and realism into the art of the new capital city. As official buildings were conceived by the architect, José de Magalhães, following the principles of the Paris School of Fine Artes, while building decorations were coordenated by Frederico Steckel, responsible for the team of painters and sculptors for the new capital. To document the old settlement, the french artist Émile Rouède was contracted, and various photographic studios were opened afterward in the city center, where a number of foreign photographers worked, standing out among them Francisco Soucasaux and Igino Bonfioli. Bonfioli was also the first cineasta in the new mineiro state capital, producing tremendously interesting documentaries on life in the new city.
Português 
Español
The purpose of this work is to look at the possibilities for elaborating a historical survey of the plastic arts in Belo Horizonte, by way of critical and historiographic review and through the sensitivity of plastic artists, photographers and videomakers. It involved reconstructing the past century's history of the city, focusing on the visual language and its interchange with other artistic expressions 
We consider art as a constructive activity in the life of cities and the urban context as the space in which artistic objects develope and so are present throughout planning, in building architecture, in house decorations, in churches, in the palaces, even in the dress and ornamentation used by its inhabitants 
Belo Horizonte was built in the last decade of the 19th century, as a city planned in accord with the modern republican concept and following the ideal model of a neoclassical city. The urban plan was conceived by engineer Aarão Reis, chief of the Building Commision for the New Capital. This ordered space concept was concentrated in the urban zone of the city, where the parallel streets and octagonal avenues were geometrically designed, converging on the public squares. The plan appeared much like a chess board circled by Contorno Avenue, which suggested an imaginary wall circling the city. In the central area, the governor's mansion and official buildings were built following the eclectic model and art nouveau ornamentation, along with the Boa Viagem Mother Church, the Municipal Park, the Central Market and houses for public workers.
European immigrants emerged as the first building artists in Belo Horizonte - Émile Rouède, Frederico Steckel, Luis Olivieri, João Amadeu Mucchiut, the Natali brothers, Francisco Soucasaux and Igino Bonfioli - painters, sculptors and photographers, natives of France, Germany, Austria and Italy, who introduced landscaping, symbolism and realism into the art of the new capital city. As official buildings were conceived by the architect, José de Magalhães, following the principles of the Paris School of Fine Artes, while building decorations were coordenated by Frederico Steckel, responsible for the team of painters and sculptors for the new capital. To document the old settlement, the french artist Émile Rouède was contracted, and various photographic studios were opened afterward in the city center, where a number of foreign photographers worked, standing out among them Francisco Soucasaux and Igino Bonfioli. Bonfioli was also the first cineasta in the new mineiro state capital, producing tremendously interesting documentaries on life in the new city.