This imposing building on the booming Avenida Rio Branco in Centro houses wonderful examples of national and international painting and sculpture. Among the 16,000 works is a space dedicated to nineteenth-centruy Brazilian artists, but contemporary names such as Di Cavalcanti, Portinari, Guignardi, Lasar Segall and Burle Marx are all present too. To get the most out of the exhibitions, English, Spanish and Portuguese-language audio guides are available for R$8, the braile version is R$5. The museum, inaugurated in 1937, is in good company in this part of town, with the Municipal Theatre and National Library close by making for quite the cultural excursion in Cinelândia.