Abstract
This essay refers to the beginnings of the Superior Courses of Visual Arts at the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts and analyzes the pioneer role of the University of the Federal District in the teaching of the Visual Arts. Emphasizing political problems, it takes into account the difficult situation of UNB’s Institute of Arts, which was closed by the military dictatorship in 1965, and focuses more specifically on the renewal that ECA/USP represented in the teaching of Visual Arts in Brazil. It reaches the conclusion that the Teaching of the Arts can only develop in democratic situations.
Keywords: Visual arts; University; Education