Escadaria Selarón – Selaron Steps are known all over the world and adorn Rio de Janeiro. The steps are the work of the artist Jorge Selarón, who will forever be remembered as the artist who made or painted one of the most beautiful "monuments" in Rio.
Jorge Selarón started the project in 1990, known as Rua Manuel Carneiro. It consists of 250 steps that end on the 125th metro. Jorge is a painter and sculptor originally from Chile who moved to Rio in 1983. Out of his own desire and discretion, he started with the renovation of the stairs in front of his apartment in Rio. The works expanded and dragged on for several years because this "hobby" became a serious project. The fact that he sold his paintings in order to finance the completion of works on the steps speaks in favor of how seriously the artist himself took it. The stairs contain over 2000 tiles collected from over 60 countries.
Jorge completed the steps in the 2000s when they appeared on the front pages of numerous magazines, which further celebrated them as a tourist and unavoidable attraction of the city. In 2005, the steps were declared a monument to Rio.
Originally, the tiles came from various construction sites and from the streets of Rio de Janeiro. But later, most of the tiles arrived from all over the world. About 300 tiles were hand-painted by Selarón depicting a pregnant African woman. When Jorge was asked what his work symbolizes, he only briefly commented that it was a personal problem from his past.
In 2013, on January 10, the lifeless body of the artist was found on these same steps. His death remained a mystery. The police made a report based on the statements of his friends and acquaintances, on the basis of which they had a well-founded suspicion that the artist may have killed himself. Yet this case has never been fully clarified. Jorge was 65 years old when he passed away, and he left behind a significant work that will forever adorn Rio
