What is love? This question has been fundamental for humankind since the advent of philosophy. The cause of union as well as wars in the mythologies of the East and West, love is considered a feeling connected to the deities and to the sacred. In literature, it has roamed the past and repeats itself with might in the present: felt in one’s flesh, it is the subject of poetry and prose. Desire does not solely unite the characters in the stories told; it is a drive that enables creation: an instinct that drives artists in different places and times towards pleasure. To give form to feeling, to that which escapes us, is an impossible feat. But there are those stubborn enough to keep trying, from the philosophers of Classical Antiquity to the artists of our century. The first representation of a kiss that we know of is a twelve-thousand-year-old cave painting discovered in the Capivara Mountains, in the state of Piauí. But if we love with our souls, it is our bodies that feel the overwhelming effects of emotion. In the sambas about lost love, in bossa nova or in sad songs, the joy of experiencing carnal pleasure or the sorrow of losing the object of love have resulted in some of the songs that inhabit our imagery: we repeat choruses with our hearts in our throats. The pains and delights of loving unite legions of people who, together, find meaning in the manifestation of the desire to live a shared life – be it just for one night or until death do us part.

A term first used in the 1960s, “sofrência” [heartache] is the topic in different music genres: from brega to Brazilian country music [“música sertaneja”], the songs celebrate the pleasure of loving, but, above all, they transform the sorrow of love lost in a poetry that gives life meaning, they elaborate on absence. Brazilian country music is a true phenomenon of popular music; it is the genre with the most listeners in the country. Since the 2000s, the subgenre called “college country music” [“sertanejo universitário”] shows how historical, economic, and social conditions are transforming the Brazilian countryside. Since the 2010s, with women more present in the genre as singers and songwriters, a new subgenre rises, called “feminejo” [the contraction of the words feminino, feminine, and sertanejo, of the countryside], which prominently features women in lyrics that have the female point of view as their topic. In a country historically marked by male chauvinism, by the culture of sexual harassment, by domestic abuse, by the alarming rates of femicide and inequality of opportunity, these accomplishments point to our urgent focus on popular cultural expressions. The Brazilian country music sang by women had as one of its greatest icons singer Marília Mendonça (1995-2021), also known as the “Queen of Heartache”. In one of her lyrics, “Troca de calçada” [“Cross to the other sidewalk”], the singer-songwriter made history by making the lyrical speaker of her song a sex worker.

“Heartache” was organized to put together paintings by Brazilian popular artists in the collection of Museu Internacional de Arte Naïf, as well as to invite the audiences that visit it to undertake another task – one perhaps as hard as defining love: what is the intention we project behind the gesture of the artist? Does this collection of paint on canvas suggest a fictional, imagined scene, or does it bring up any good memories? In scenes depicting social gatherings, households, or city streets, we notice parties, flirtation, and glances exchanged. When we see these bodies represented, we may question who these figures are, where they are looking, who or what they desire. Expressing affection is one of the reasons repeatedly expressed by artists of different periods in art history. With this reunion of self-taught artists, this will not be any less legitimate. The French term “naïf” means naive, and one of its meanings is “devoid of malice or sin”. What may be the fantasies behind these seductions? From the troubadours to the authors of German Romanticism, the popular songs played on viola caipira or forró pé de serra, the feeling – whether felt in the soul or the body – here is not viewed as a minor or less relevant reason for creation. In Heartache, we realize that, despite our fear of ending up alone, the desire to be together is revolutionary.