Collection: Roberto Matta

(1911-2002) Chilean

Matta was a sketch artist and painter known for his work in the Abstract Expressionist and Surrealist movements. He studied architecture and interior design at the Ponificia Universidad Catolica de Chile. Matta moved to Paris in 1933 to work for famed architect Le Corbusier and was introduced to Salvador Dali in 1934 during a trip to Madrid who encouraged him to show his drawings to André Breton. Breton and Dali connected Matta to the Surrealist movement and he officially joined in 1937. In 1938, Matta left Europe for New York and it was during this time that his artwork evolved from drawings to oil paintings. He lived and worked in the United States for the next decade creating his Inscape series. During the 1950s and 1960s, Matta divided his time between South American and Europe where his paintings combine politics with semi-Abstract Art.