Jorge Selarón (1947 – January 10, 2013) was a

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

and

ceramist Ceramic art is art made from ceramic materials, including clay. It may take forms including artistic pottery, including tableware, tiles, figurines and other sculpture. As one of the plastic arts, ceramic art is one of the visual arts. Whil ...

. He is perhaps best known for his work on the

Escadaria Selarón Escadaria Selarón, also known as the 'Selaron Steps', is a set of world-famous steps in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They are the work of Chilean-born artist Jorge Selarón who claimed it as "my tribute to the Brazilian people". History In 1990, ...

, a world-famous set of ceramic tile-covered stairs located in the Lapa and Santa Teresa neighborhoods of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Biography

Selarón moved to the Lapa neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro in the 1980s, settling in a house next to the stairs. In 1990, he began decorating the 215 stairs leading up to the Convent of Santa Teresa with ceramic tiles. His artistic transformation of the stairs, using tiles and

porcelain Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainl ...

donated by friends and supporters, took twenty years to complete. His stairs, which were declared a city landmark in 2005, were featured in Rio de Janeiro's bid for the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

. Jorge Selarón was found dead on the Escadaria Selarón near his home on January 10, 2013, at the age of 65. His body was found burned on the aforementioned stairs in question. Later in 2013, police has said the main line of investigation was suicide, considering allegations from friends that he was depressive.

References

1947 births 2013 deaths Artists from Rio de Janeiro (city) Brazilian ceramists Brazilian painters Chilean emigrants to Brazil People from Quillota Province {{Brazil-painter-stub 2013 suicides Suicides by self-immolation