What is love? This is a fundamental question for humanity since the dawn of philosophy. A cause of union and conflict in Eastern and Western mythologies, it is considered a feeling connected to the divine and the sacred. In literature, it has traversed the past and continues to resonate strongly in the present: experienced in the flesh, it is a source of poetry and prose. Desire unites not only the characters in stories but is also a drive that enables creation: an instinct that moves artists across different spaces and times towards pleasure. Giving shape to the feeling, to what eludes us, is an impossible task. From the philosophers of Classical Antiquity to the artists of our century, there are those who persist in trying. Discovered in Serra da Capivara, in the state of Piauí, a rock painting over 12,000 years old is the earliest known representation of a kiss. If we love with our souls, it is our bodies that feel the overwhelming effects of the emotion. In samba, bossa nova, or "fossa" music, the joy of experiencing carnal pleasure or the lament of losing a loved one has inspired some of the songs that populate our imagination: we repeat choruses with our hearts on our sleeves. The pains and delights of love gather crowds that, together, find meaning in expressing the desire to live a shared life – for just one night or until death do us part.

The term “sofrência,” coined in the 1960s, is used across different musical styles: from brega to sertanejo, the songs celebrate the pleasure of loving but, above all, transform the lament of loss into poetry that gives meaning to life, elaborating on the absence. A phenomenon in Brazilian popular music, sertanejo is the most listened-to musical style in the country. Since the 2000s, the term “sertanejo universitário” reflects how historical, economic, and social conditions have been transforming rural Brazil. Since the 2010s, the increased presence of women in this musical style, as composers and performers, has led to the emergence of "feminejo" – a genre that emphasizes women's perspectives in compositions. In a country historically marked by machismo, a culture of harassment, domestic violence, alarming rates of femicide, and inequality of opportunities, such advances point to our urgent attention to popular cultural manifestations. Sertanejo sung by women had one of its greatest representatives in singer Marília Mendonça (1995-2021), also known as the “Queen of Sofrência.” In one of her songs, “Troca de calçada,” the singer and songwriter made history by giving a voice to a sex worker in her lyrics.

"Sofrência" was organized to bring together paintings by Brazilian popular artists from the International Museum of Naïve Art and also to challenge visitors to a different task – perhaps as difficult as defining what love is: what is the intention behind the artist's gesture? In this accumulation of paint on the canvas, is a fictional scene suggested, an imagined one, or does it recall a fond memory? In scenes of social interaction, domestic environments, and city streets, we see parties, flirtations, and exchanges of glances. By observing these represented bodies, we might question who these figures are, where they are looking, and what or whom they desire. Expressing affection is one of the reasons repeatedly manifested by artists throughout different periods of art history. With this collection of self-taught artists, this will be no less legitimate. The French term “naïf” means naïve, with one of its definitions being “without any malice or sin.” What fantasies lie behind these seductions? From troubadour poetry to German romantic literature, through the styles of caipira viola or forró pé de serra, the feeling – whether in the soul or the body – is not considered a minor or less important motive for creation. In “Sofrência,” we see that, despite the fear of being alone, the desire to be together is revolutionary.