The São Paulo International Bienal, created in 1951 by the entrepreneur, Francisco Matarazzo Sobrinho (1892 - 1977), known as Ciccillo Matarazzo, was the first large-scale exhibition of Modern Art to be realised outside the major European and North American cultural centres. Its origins are linked to a series of other cultural achievements in São Paulo, the Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand - Masp [Assis Chateaubriand Museum of Art of São Paulo] (1947), Teatro Brasileiro de Comédia (TBC) [The Brazilian Comedy Theatre] (1948), the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo - MAM/SP [São Paulo Museum of Modern Art] (1949) and the Companhia Cinematográfica Vera Cruz [Vera Cruz Cinema Company] (1949), pointing to the strong institutional encouragement that the arts received at the time, with the support of such patrons as Ciccillo Matarazzo and Assis Chateaubriand (1892 - 1968). Conceived in connection with the MAM/SP, the first Bienal was held on 20 October, 1951, on the esplanade of the Trianon, a site occupied today by the Masp. The space, designed by the architects, Luís Saia and Eduardo Kneese de Mello, hosted 1,800 works from 23 countries, in addition to national output. "We have to put modern Brazilian art in active contact with the rest of the world, and at the same time, try to establish the city of São Paulo as an international art centre' said the organisers of the event. The first Bienal brought to Brazil for he first time works by Pablo Picasso (1881 - 1973), Alberto Giacometti (1901 - 1966), René Magritte (1898 - 1967), George Grosz (1893 - 1959) etc., and presented Brazilian work by Lasar Segall (1891 - 1957), Victor Brecheret (1894 - 1955), Oswaldo Goeldi (1895 - 1961), among others. The prizes awarded to the sculpture Unidade Tripartida [Tripartite Unity] by Max Bill (1908 - 1994) and the canvas Formas [Forms] by Ivan Serpa (1923 - 1973) are indicators of the interest aroused by the new Constructivist trends in art. The founder of the Hochschule für Gestaltung [Superior School of Form], in Ulm (1951), Max Bill was the main figure responsible for the penetration of Concretist ideas into Latin America after the Second World War, most notably to Argentina and Brazil. The artist's exhibition at the Masp in 1951 and the presence of the Swiss delegation at the 1st Bienal in the same year, opened the country's doors to the new plastic languages, which were subsequently explored in depth.

The second Bienal, in December 1953, took place in Ibirapuera park, recently inaugurated as part of the Quadricentenary celebrations of the city of São Paulo, and designed by Oscar Niemeyer (1907-) and Burle Marx (1909 - 1994). Known as the Guernica Bienal, due to the presence of Picasso's famous painting of 1937, the exhibition also included works by Constantin Brancusi (1876 - 1957), by Giorgio Morandi (1890 - 1964) and the Italian Futurists, as well as other leading international names in Modern Art. The Bienal of 1955, that included 46 works by Sophie Taeuber-Arp (1889 - 1943) and 44 engravings by the Mexican muralists, marked the coming of age of the event. In 1957, the exhibition included a notable Surrealist presence plus the work of Jackson Pollock (1912 - 1956). The 5^th Bienal (1959) was a major success with the public, and according to the critic, Mário Pedrosa (1900 - 1981), introduced the novelty of the 'informal and tachiste offensive'. The event also inaugurated an area for theatre, which came to share the space with shows of films, the visual arts and architecture. It should be recalled that on 8 May, 1962, the Fundação Bienal de São Paulo [São Paulo Bienal Foundation] was created, marking its separation from the MAM/SP. From the end of the 1950s onwards, the cultural project promoted by São Paulo industrialists lost momentum, leading to a restructuring of the São Paulo art world. At the 6^th Bienal, the general curation by Mário Pedrosa combined contemporary works (Kurt Schwitters, 1887-1948) with historical retrospectives (Alfredo Volpi (1896 - 1988)). The expansion of the domestic component and the greater prominence of works of a historical character gave rise to a series of criticisms of the event. For its part, the 1963 show was notable for its scale, which from then on became one of its characteristic features.

From 1965 to 1973, the Bienal was severely affected by the military coup and the political repression within Brazil. Both national and international participation declined perceptibly, compromising the event (although the 1967 show included a significant Pop Art presence). The opposition of artists to the military dictatorship became more strident at the 10^th Bienal (1969), when, at the Museum of Modern Art of Paris, various artists and intellectuals signed the 'No to the Bienal' manifesto. Starting with the 14^th Bienal (1977) onwards, the exhibition began to organise around particular themes to which works were allocated. From the 1980s onwards, the curators were notable for their definition of themes and questions that oriented the organisation of the works, as well as museographic innovations. The 16^th Bienal (1981), under the general curatorship of Walter Zanini, played an important role in restoring the prestige of the event that had been decimated in the previous decade. Zanini organised the show on the principle of the analogies in language between various works (Group 1: 'Approximate Languages'). He strengthened the historical group (Group 2), presented the collection of the Museu do Inconsciente [Museum of the Unconscious] and persuaded contemporary artists to return to the event (among these, the domestic participants had a major impact, with works by Antonio Dias (1944- ), Cildo Meireles (1948- ), Tunga (1952- ) and others). In 1985, the curator of the 18^th Bienal, Sheila Leirner (1948- ) with the aid of architects, presented new solutions for the assembly of the exhibition. The guiding idea of the event, the 'great canvas', led the works to be exhibited along three vast corridors, with 30cm of distance between works. During the 1990s, the shows were organised on the basis of major themes, such as 'the Break with the Medium' (1994), and 'Anthropophagy' (1998). During this decade, the Bienais included spectacles of various types: dance, theatre, music, etc. transforming them into broader cultural events.