IN MARCH 1930 the painter Vicente do Rego Monteiro brought to Recife an exhibition of works by the main artists of the so-called School of Paris, among them Picasso, Léger, Miró and Braque. The event, in spite of the intrinsic quality of the works, met with widespread incomprehension. In this article is demonstrated, by using Pierre Bourdieu's contribution, that the differences between the cultural codes held by the public and those referred to by the works prevented the attendance from deciphering both the meaning and the value of the exhibition.
