A six-year-old art genius who began painting at just 10 months old has amazed critics with his first public exhibition.
Bento Benatti fell in love with art as a baby when his gran Vanusa left out some paints and canvases for him to play with and now he has been compared to famous American painter Jackson Pollock.
Young Bento took to it instantly and now five years later, 30 of his canvases are on show at a public exhibition in Araxa, in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais.
Videos of Bento at work show him using a bag of water dunked in paint to produce vividly coloured Impressionist-style flowers on one canvas.
Another clip shows him blending sky blues and whites on a giant canvas that is taller than him.
His proud mum Jacqueline said: “In addition to painting, Bento loves playing with his brothers and friends, colouring, riding his bike, and taking swimming lessons.
“His favourite colour is red and he has a special taste for Japanese cuisine, especially sushi.”
His grandmother added: “I used to do crafts and so I had lots of materials at home.
“Little by little I started giving him some to play with and then he discovered painting. It’s a great joy for me!”
Araxa City Hall confirmed that the city-funded exhibition is open at the town’s Municipal Theatre until 14th August.
They said in a statement: “From the age of 10 months, Bento demonstrated a great appreciation for artistic activities, creating his first works with the help of his grandmother, who gave him bottles of paint for him to pour onto some canvases.
“The results were surprising and, from then on, the artist improved his skills.”
Laura Cristina Maximiano Alves, the coordinator of the Municipal Theater, who curated the paintings, compared them to Jackson Pollock’s pieces, the most expensive of which, Number 5 1948, sold at a Christie’s auction for USD 140 million (GBP 110 million) in 2006.
To find out more about the author, editor or agency that supplied this story – please click below.
Story By: Joseph Golder, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Newsflash
The Ananova page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.
