São Paulo's big art museum recently reorganized its galleries to give much more space to Brazilian artists. The top floor contains the permanent collection, which, as before, contains an excellent selection of Western art, from 14th-century Italian religious imagery to the early-20th-century works of Picasso. Every period and country has a representative sample -- Dutch Rembrandts, English Turners, Spanish El Grecos, and French everythings (Rodin, Renoir, Degas, and Monet). But in one big change, several rooms on this floor are now dedicated to the Brazilian greats, among them Di Cavalcanti and Candido Portinari. Even better, the entire second floor of the MASP is now a temporary gallery, dedicated to changing exhibitions, again of mostly Brazilian artists. The display space is still long and fluorescent lit and kind of warehouse-y, but the art is now worth the trip. Check Out the Antiques Market -- Every Sunday from 10am to 5pm there's an antiques fair in the courtyard beneath the MASP building. Dealers are registered, and the quality is often good. Plus, it's the only time you'll ever find anybody voluntarily occupying that open space.

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's Brazil, 4th Edition, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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