This thesis intends to relate the work of visual arts artist, Adriana Varejão (Rio de Janeiro, 1964 -) to usage of themes and images common for the historiography. Having worked for over 30 years as a professional artist, Adriana Varejão has produced works that transit through the variety of contents and operate on diverse aesthetic fundaments within visual arts. The most known field is the painting, with outspreads through such art as installation, photography and cinematography. The topics related to written history can be seen in many of these works in many different ways. This research is going to approach precisely the specific group of issues, considering how the artist analyses the history and what elements are used to deconstruct it and create it through a ficctional and singular narrative, through which the determined events from the past will be interpreted through a different perspective. For the artist, the past is not simply what has already passed, but it is what has survived, what can be re-told in a different way. In her works, we can see the appropration, mostly through the parody of parts of images, in some cases anonymous, others created by another artist, with the objective of creating works of art with different meanings. What Adriana Varejão realizes is the fact that these parts of images from the past are considered to be articulated as determined ideas and to change them, it is necessary to transform this iconography. Having said that, this thesis is going to approach the ways the artist uses the images from the past, adapting them and creating new questions. Firstly, this thesis is going to analyse how does this appropriation occur and whether there are any strict criteria for it. Secondly, the parody is going to be analysed, its usage in the artist s work, in its conceptual and aesthetic form, and its relation with the history. Thirdly, the thesis is going to study two important contributions in form of cultural influence: baroque and modernism, where the past is present. As a conclusion, this work is going to reflect upon the variety of possibilities of thinking about the past and writing the history.