Sarah Bernhardt in São Paulo: A Muse for the “Artistic Capital”

In 1893, after wrapping up performances in the city, Sarah Bernhardt declared São Paulo the “artistic capital of Brazil.”  While the local press never offered an explanation for the renowned actress’s utterance, it did cling to her phrase with a boosterist fervor.  The label “artistic capital” would be both celebrated and challenged over the next three decades by paulistano elites and artists, serving as inspiration for public and private projects promoting the arts, among these the Municipal Theater (1911).  Moreover, Bernhardt herself would become a symbol for São Paulo’s progress as defined by local policymakers and journalists.

This paper traces the reception of Bernhardt in the paulistano press and assembly halls as one way of understanding the arts’ role in the identity politics of Brazil’s second city.  I begin by contextualizing Bernhardt’s career and popularity in São Paulo; continue with an examination of her three tours through the city (1886, 1893, and 1905); and end with an analysis of her legacy in the writings and arts initiatives of paulistanos.  In the process, I argue that local performances by foreign celebrities––and the stories woven around them—played a pivotal part in establishing São Paulo’s sense of place, and specifically its reputation as a cosmopolitan city.  First, as a destination for Bernhardt’s tour, São Paulo was set on par with Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires and received attention in the European press, to which paulistanos were in turn attentive.  Second, in admiring Bernhardt and her French repertoire, audiences in São Paulo made claims to a shared, refined taste with their European peers, as well as to fluency in the speech of the cultured man.  Finally, the international star’s approval offered São Paulo’s boosters powerful evidence with which to argue their city’s rank among the civilized world.