Visit Latin America's largest art museum, in São Paulo
The highlight of Avenida Paulista is the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP). This is the most important gallery in the southern hemisphere, preserving some of Europe’s greatest paintings. If it were in the US or Europe it would be as busy as the Prado or the Guggenheim, but here, aside from the occasional noisy group of schoolchildren, the gallery is invariably deserted. Even at weekends, visitors can stop and stare at a Rembrandt or a Velazquez at their leisure. France gets star-billing, with 11 Renoirs, 70 Degas, and a stream of works by Monet, Manet, Cezanne, Toulouse-Lautrec and Gauguin. Renaissance Italy is represented by a Raphael Resurrection, an impeccable Bellini and a series of exquisite late 15th-century icons. The remaining walls are adorned with paintings by Bosche, Goya, Van Dyck, Turner, Constable and many others, cherry-picked from post-War Europe.
