Untitled
Artist
Roberto Matta
(Chilean, 1911–2002)
Date1962
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensionscanvas: 175.7 x 198.3 cm (69 3/16 x 78 1/16 in.)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineMuseum purchase
Object number1963.79
DescriptionAbstract painting composed mainly of ovoid and cylindrical forms denoting futuristic machines suspended in space. Depicted in muted grey tones with splashes of deep gold.Label TextDuring a career that spanned six decades and from a worldview that represented a synthesis of Latin American, European, and American cultures, Matta sought to “make the invisible visible” by articulating connections between the human psyche and external world. His mature painting aesthetic in which precisely rendered elements of abstraction and figuration co-exist in complex multi-dimensional spaces, was shaped by a strong social conscious, early training in architecture, and participation in Surrealist explorations of the unconscious through a symbolic language of abstract forms. Here, fantastical machines hover together in a futuristic world still evolving—a space formed by internal and external forces where anxiety and wonder about the unknown collide. Matta believed that, “The function of art is to unveil the enormous economic, cultural, and emotional forces that materially interact in our lives and that constitute the real space in which we live.”ProvenanceCordier & Ekstrom, Inc. New York NY
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