Oscar Niemeyer: International Works, Personal Life and the End of an Era

During the 1990s, he continued to design new buildings, including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Niterói, which was inaugurated in 1996.

The Oscar Niemeyer Foundation was established in 1988 in the city of Niterói, for the preservation and research of architecture, with a new headquarters designed by him in Rio de Janeiro.

In 2004, he received the architecture award from the Praemium Imperiale of the Japan Art Association. This is an international arts award given annually since 1989 by the Japan Art Association in Tokyo. The award is given for the five artistic modalities: architecture, music, painting, sculpture, and theater or cinema. It is considered one of the greatest honors among the arts awards.

Even after celebrating his 100th birthday and despite the criticism that his more recent work lacked the elegance of his earlier projects, in 2007 he began designing a Cultural Center in Avilés, in Spain. The building was inaugurated in 2011.

Niemeyer, at the age of 103, visited his office in Rio de Janeiro daily to care for the design process and ongoing projects. He always received young architects with an open heart during his retirement days and never stopped working on his sketchpad.

Oscar Niemeyer: PERSONAL LIFE

In 1928, Niemeyer married Annita Baldo and had a single daughter who was baptized as Anna Maria Niemeyer, who gave him five grandchildren in compensation. His wife passed away in 2005 and the following year, as a widower, he married Vera Lúcia Cabreira. In 2012, his daughter passed away at the age of 82.

DEATH AND LEGACY

Oscar Niemeyer passed away on December 5, 2012, in Rio de Janeiro. At the time of his death, he was 104 years old. The funeral took place in the same presidential palace that he designed almost fifty years before his death in Brasília.

Oscar Niemeyer's love for curves and natural lines exists in all of his projects, which are undoubtedly breathtaking works. The 104 years of Niemeyer on earth were incredibly productive in the world of architecture and public space. 'Oscar', as he was affectionately known by everyone in Rio de Janeiro, built a legacy that reaches all corners of Brazil.

"If the straight line is the shortest distance between two points, the curve is what makes concrete seek the infinite." (Oscar Niemeyer)

To understand the rest of this journey, continue to our next article: Oscar Niemeyer: Biography and Works – Gallery of Most Famous Works.