Read below excerpts from interviews and statements by personalities exponents of Minas Gerais culture about Murilo Rubião.
“Murilo was a shy man, discreet, very reserved and always hidden behind his glasses and mustache, he even looked like the man in Drummond’s poem, who was behind the cigarette holder. Murilo used to smoke a lot and use a small cigarette holder. He used to stutter a little; he would lower his glasses a little and look, he had big eyes, was a shy and reserved man; he used to speak little, but what he would say would always be smart, ironic, he used to like to laugh, to satirize situations.
He wasn’t a man connected to the system, he was a man opposed to the military regime. Murilo had a critical position regarding the regime, although he didn’t participate of an opposition front or a democratic resistance.”
“Murilo was so involved with so many work fronts that it no longer made sense for him to leave Minas Gerais. At that time, it was said that Minas Gerais exported ores and mineiros1, and he remained here.”
Angelo Oswaldo
“When I was in exile, the painter Vicente de Abreu used to make Murilo into object of our conversations in Lima and Santiago. The memory of Murilo was always a memory of great admiration and Vicente, who was a very sensitive person, a great painter, would comment on this personality of Murilo’s: introverted, who nevertheless would expose himself in the way of being and talking when he felt at ease, in an environment of friends.
Countless friends of mine, before and after Murilo’s death, have given statements that allow him to be characterized as one of the outstanding figures of the cultural life of Minas Gerais throughout this period and who will surely have prolonged this influence through his own work.”
Guy de Almeida
“We had an intense relation. I’ve got a cabinet here at home that was his. Great friend. Murilo was a very interesting person. He, as an employee, was a very rigorous person, had a sense of responsibility and a great exemption to deal with things. Spending public money, for example, was a sacred thing for him. He would do it as faithfully as possible. In the execution phase of things, he used to be very strict, and then in the supervision. He was an exemplary employee, people who worked with him and didn’t like to keep schedule had problems, he was adamant.”
Rui Mourão
1 People from the state of Minas Gerais. In free translation, “miners”.