The Kadiwéu are responsible for an extremely sophisticated painting. Like many other tribes, they considered the painting distinguished them from animals. For the same reason, they also used to cut their hairs, including the eyebrows. Drawings made by Guido Boggiani, an Italian adventurer and artist who lived with them for a few months in the late 19th century, picture the excellence of the work.
In the 20th century, the anthropologists Lévi-Strauss and Darcy Ribeiro have photographed youths of the tribes showing their paintings. These works inspired the painting we used in the movie "Brava Gente Brasileira" (translated as "Brave New Land"). Now, only some women make traditional paintings in their body, but just for celebrations, although without that sophistication and detailing once seen.
Drawings survived through ceramics, made by women and sold as handicraft work, throughout the surrounding cities.
In the other hand, the relationship between painting and war is a tradition that still survives. In the second half of 2013, when the Kadiwéu inhabited the farms inside the area considered as part of the reserve, all of them were painted black, as they traditionally used to do.
