Maria Cristina was born in Rio de Janeiro. But she spent most of her life in São-Paulo. She also lived in Brasilia, Paris, Buenos Aires, Mexico, Athens and Montpellier, France where she lives now.
 
Self-taught, Cristina took up painting as a teen-ager.

In her naïve style, she has illustrated various themes, such as Brazil, her own country, France, Greece etc... She mostly tells stories referring either to the Bible (Noe's Arch, the Creation of the World), or the music (Vivaldi's Four seasons, Brassens' Big Chain, Saint-Saëns Animals' Carnival) or to famous pieces of literature (La Fontaine's The cicada and the ant, Homer's Odyssey...), and relevant facts as Santorini's volcano eruption.

The icons technique was discovered during her stay in Greece. Whereas in the traditional icon conception the artist is allowed only to reproduce the pre-established artistic canonical view, Maria Cristina develops her personal approach. Using exactly the same technique (application of golden leaves, tempera - a mix of natural pigments, yolk and vinegar), she gets rid of the Byzantine judge, creating "naïve icons", with the most various subjects (Gabriel The Archangel, The Mermaid of Marseille, Mykonos, etc.).

She realized a personal exhibition in São Paulo and took part in several collective exhibitions as: Nature in Brazil, Art on Stone, Grande collective of Brazilian naïve Art, Brazil Festival in Athens's Hilton and also Panorama Latino Americana in Santorini.

But her works are to be found principally in private collections. One of them, Le Mont Saint Michel is an illustration of the book La Cité des Naïfs and can be seen in the Musée d'Art Naïf in Paris - Montmartre.

Since 2005, some of her most recent works are exhibited at the Gallery Jacqueline Bricard (Lourmarin - France). Next July 2006, she will exhibit in the Voghera Gallery in Manosque (France).