Roberto Matta
Bio
(Santiago, 1911-Civitavecchia, 2002). He studied architecture at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and in 1935 moved to Paris to work in the studio of the architect Le Courbusier. Subsequently he comes into contact with representatives of the surrealist movement: André Breton, Max Ernst and Salvador Dalí, among others. He exhibited in numerous museums and institutions around the world, achieving international recognition in the late 50s. In 1957 his first major retrospective was held at the MOMA in New York. He is part of important collections, among them the Tate Modern, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. In 1990 he received the National Art Award; in 1992 the Prince of Asturias Award; and in 1995 the Praemium Imperiale.
Statement
In more than sixty years of tireless activity, Roberto Matta's artistic work went through several mutations, participating in abstract expressionism and surrealism, continuously producing large format oil paintings and experimenting with different forms of artistic expression, including video productions, photography, engraving and other means of expression.
His work is characterized by the representation of a unique cosmological universe and is full of morphologies and pictorial representations of a highly personal imaginary, showing interior landscapes that allude to a spatiality both of consciousness and cosmic, reflecting the global and Latin American political-social context, and integrating anthropomorphic figures and erotic and playful contents.
2.5 x 4m / 98.4 x 157 in
