The character arc of Oscar Niemeyer

A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record

Born 15 December 1907 in Rio de Janeiro. Died 5 December 2012, ten days short of a hundred and five. Between the two sit a marriage in 1928, an architecture degree in 1934, the Pampulha buildings in 1943, the United Nations in 1947, Brasilia from 1956, exile in Paris from 1966, a return in 1985, the Pritzker Prize in 1988, a museum in 1996 and about six hundred projects across seventy eight years. The line below draws that whole life in order.

Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.

Who was Oscar Niemeyer?

They exiled him, and he kept on drawing.

He married Annita Baldo in 1928, at twenty one, and graduated from the National School of Fine Arts in 1934. He worked with Lucio Costa in the thirties, and the two of them worked on the Ministry of Education and Health building, finished in 1943. The same year the Pampulha complex was completed, including the Church of Saint Francis of Assisi, whose curves were so unlike anything Brazil had built that the church refused to consecrate it for years.

In 1947 he worked with Le Corbusier on the United Nations headquarters in New York. He taught at Yale and at Harvard, though his membership of the Brazilian Communist Party meant visas were denied and his work in the United States stayed limited. Then in 1956 President Kubitschek asked him to design the civic buildings of a capital city that did not exist yet. Brasilia was built between 1956 and 1960: the National Congress, the cathedral, the presidential palace. It was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1987.

After the military coup of 1964 he moved to Paris in 1966 and worked across Europe and in Algeria. He came back to Brazil in 1985 as the country returned to civilian government. The Pritzker Prize came in 1988. He was president of the Brazilian Communist Party from 1992 to 1996, designed the Niteroi Contemporary Art Museum in 1996, and went on working into his hundreds, about six hundred projects across seventy eight years. His line is worth reading because the twenty years that should have ended it are in the middle rather than at the end.

The moments

Oscar Niemeyer's timeline.

The 1920s

~1928

He married Annita Baldo

Everyday. Twenty one, married, six years before the degree.

The 1930s

Dec 1934

An architecture degree

Milestone, and it changed his direction. Twenty six, qualified, into a profession that drew in straight lines.

The 1940s

Jun 1943

Pampulha

Milestone, and it changed everything. Curves where a church was supposed to have corners. It was not consecrated for years.

May 1947

The United Nations

Milestone, and it changed his direction. Working beside Le Corbusier, at forty, on the most watched building of the decade.

The 1950s

~1950

The visas were refused

Setback, and it changed his direction. Invited to teach, and repeatedly refused entry, over a party card.

Sep 1956

A capital that did not exist

Milestone, and it changed everything. Not a building. A capital city, on empty ground, in four years.

The 1960s

21 Apr 1960

Brasilia opened

Milestone, and it changed everything. Four years from nothing to a working capital.

1 Jun 1965

Stay after the coup, or go

Crossroads, decided.

The paths laid out: leave for Paris, taken, or stay in Brazil. He worked across Europe and Algeria for nineteen years, came home in 1985, and took the Pritzker Prize in 1988.

~1966

He left for Paris

Setback, and it changed everything. Fifty eight years old, out of the country he had just built a capital for.

The 1980s

~1985

He came home

Milestone, and it changed everything. Nineteen years away, and back at seventy seven.

29 May 1988

The Pritzker Prize

Milestone, and it changed everything. Architecture's highest award, at eighty, three years after coming home.

The 1990s

2 Sep 1996

Niteroi, at eighty eight

Milestone, and it changed his direction. A saucer on a cliff over the bay, drawn at eighty eight.

The 2010s

~2010

Still working at a hundred

Milestone, and it changed everything. Six hundred projects, seventy eight years, and he was still drawing after a hundred.

The line ends 5 Dec 2012, in Rio de Janeiro, ten days short of a hundred and five. What it set moving is a whole city: Brasilia is a World Heritage Site, and the concrete curve he insisted on against every straight line of his training is now simply what modern architecture is allowed to look like.

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His had twenty years of exile in the middle and kept going regardless. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.

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Oscar Niemeyer: frequently asked questions

What people ask about his line.

What was Oscar Niemeyer's character arc?

An architect who designed a capital city from nothing between 1956 and 1960, left Brazil for Paris after the military coup, spent nineteen years abroad, came home at seventy seven, won the Pritzker Prize, and kept drawing past a hundred.

Did Oscar Niemeyer design Brasilia?

He designed its civic buildings, including the National Congress, the cathedral and the presidential palace, after President Kubitschek invited him in 1956. The city was built by 1960 and inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1987.

Why did Oscar Niemeyer leave Brazil?

He relocated to Paris in 1966, after the military coup of 1964, and worked across Europe and in Algeria. He returned in 1985 as the country moved back to civilian government. This page takes no position on those events.

What is Oscar Niemeyer famous for architecturally?

Curves in reinforced concrete, where the training of his era called for straight lines. The Church of Saint Francis of Assisi at Pampulha, completed in 1943, was so unlike anything Brazil had built that it was not consecrated for years.

Did Oscar Niemeyer work with Le Corbusier?

Yes, in 1947, on the design of the United Nations headquarters in New York. He also taught at Yale and Harvard, though visa denials over his Communist Party membership limited how much he could work in the United States.

How long did Oscar Niemeyer keep working?

Until the end. He designed approximately six hundred projects across seventy eight years, including the Niteroi Contemporary Art Museum in 1996 at eighty eight, and was still working into his hundreds.

How old was Oscar Niemeyer when he died?

A hundred and four. He was born on 15 December 1907 and died on 5 December 2012, ten days short of his hundred and fifth birthday, in the city he was born in.

Where does this timeline of Oscar Niemeyer's life come from?

From the public record. Character Arc drew every moment on this line from the sources listed at the foot of the page, and the kind and weight of each moment are our editorial reading. Oscar Niemeyer isn't a Member of Character Arc and has no connection with it, and no feeling is attributed to him.

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Sources

Oscar Niemeyer, English Wikipedia biography.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Oscar Niemeyer.
The Pritzker Architecture Prize, 1988 laureate.