[3] She spent her early childhood in Buenos Aires, moving there due to her father Aguinaldo Amaral's employment with the Instituto Brasileiro do Café [pt].
[6] While studying at USP, Amaral started working as an assistant to the director of their Museum of Contemporary Art in 1964, before being promoted to editor of their publications in 1965, a position she held until 1977.
[6][4][7] In 1972, Amaral started working as a professor of art history at the University of São Paulo Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism, and she was granted her livre-docência [pt] there in 1983.
[4] She also served as director of the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo from 1975 until 1979 and as part of the Prince Claus Fund International Prize Committee from 2002 until 2005.
[9] She published several books on art history, including Blaise Cendrars no Brasil e os modernistas (1970) and Tarsila: Sua obra e seu tempo (1975).