Hi Friends!
In this post, I’m going to write about one of the most important Chilean artists of XX century: Roberto Matta.
He was born in Santiago in 1911, and he initially studied architecture at the Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago but became disillusioned with this occupation and left for Paris in 1933. His travels led him to meet artists such as René Magritte, Salvador Dalí and André Breton. It was Breton who provided the major spur to the Chilean's direction in art, encouraging his work and introducing him to the leading members of the Paris Surrealist movement.
The first true flowering of Matta's own art came in 1938, when he moved from drawing to the oil painting for which he is best known. During the 1940s and 1950s the disturbing state of world politics found reflection in Matta's work, with the canvases becoming busy with images of electrical machinery and distressed figures. The addition of clay to Matta's paintings in the early 1960s lent an added dimension to the distortions. In his art Matta creates new dimensions in a blend of organic and cosmic life forms. He was one of the first artists to take this abstract leap.
Matta died in Civitavecchia, Italy, on November 23rd, 2002.
The piece of art that I like of Matta is “Verbo America”, a mural composed of 55 ceramic polychrome canes and which has a dimension of 4.80 x 10.60 meters. It’s weighs more than five tonnes, and its value is one million dollars. This mural was donated by the artist to the Chilean people in 1996.
The first I saw this piece of art was a few days ago in his last Location: Quinta Normal Subway Station. I like it because it symbolizes the surreal vision of Matta about America; also it was a gift that he made to the Chilean people, a gift to all of us.
See you! ...
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