The work of painter Roberto Matta, much like that of his friend Arshile Gorky, functions as a bridge between Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism, and between the European avant-garde and its American counterpart in 20th century Modernism. Born Roberto Sebastián Antonio Matta Echaurran in 1911 in Santiago, Chile, Matta studied architecture and interior design at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. He followed his studies with travel across Europe and the United States, where he met crucial artists and thinkers of the period including René Magritte, Salvador Dalí, André Breton and Le Corbusier. He experimented with the processes of automatism, and produced works of rich color and loose brushstrokes that laid biomorphic shapes over the architectonic forms, references to his architectural education. He settled in New York and began to work alongside Gorky, until Matta had an affair with Agnes Magruder, Gorky’s wife. The artist group accused Matta of indirectly contributing to Gorky’s suicide and expelled him; Matta then returned to Europe and spent much of the 1950s and 60s in South America, supporting the socialist government of president Allende in Chile. He expanded his canvases, subjects and media, working with murals, ceramics, photography and film to produce abstract works of politically engaged, pro-socialist surrealism. After his first retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1957, retrospectives at the Centre Pompidou, Paris, and the Reina Sofia, Madrid, followed in 1985 and 1999, respectively. The San Diego Museum of Art exhibited Matta’s work with that of his son, Gordon Matta-Clark in a father-son exhibition in 2006. Works from Matta’s career sell for record prices at Sotheby’s; Le pendu (1942) sold for $2.4 million, Endless nudes (1941–42), for $2.5 million, and Disasters of Mysticism (1942) sold for $2.6 million. Matta’s works are held in the permanent collections of major museums around the world including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Tate Gallery, London; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice.

Roberto Matta

Modern Day Auction

Matta 1912 - 2002 Migration des révoltes signed Matta (lower right) oil on canvas 34¾ by 27 in. 88.3 by 68.6 cm. Executed in 1973. This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by the Archives de l'oeuvre de Matta and dated 1 julliet 1995. This work is included in the Archives de l’oeuvre de Matta.

View 1 of Lot 535: Migration des révoltes

migration des révoltes

Property from an Important Private Collection, Latin America

Property from an Important Private Collection, Latin America Roberto Matta 1912 - 2002 Composition surréaliste signed Matta (lower right) oil on canvas 39 ½ by 39 ½ in. 100.3 by 100.3 cm. Executed in 1969. This work is included in the Archives de l’oeuvre de Matta.

View 1 of Lot 532: Composition surréaliste

composition surréaliste

L'Ame du Tarot de Theleme, by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Roberto+Matta&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Roberto Matta</a>, 1994.<ul><li>Roberto Matta (Chilean, 1911 - 2002).</li><li>Portfolio of five Aquatint etchings.</li><li>Each piece is signed and numbered in pencil.</li><li>Part of an edition of 100.</li><li>This work is presented unframed.</li></ul>

L'Ame du Tarot de Theleme

12AM, from: L’Arc Obscur des Heures, by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Roberto+Matta&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Roberto Matta</a>, 1974.<ul><li>Roberto Matta (Chilean, 1911-2002).</li><li>Aquatint etching on Arches paper.</li><li>Hand signed and numbered.</li><li>Part of an edition of 125, this being 51.</li><li>This work is presented framed.</li></ul> L’Arc Obscur des Heures, Matta's surrealist suite of 9 aquatint etchings, explores the passage of time, consciousness, nocturnal and diurnal transitions, and psychic landscapes.

12AM

La Dulce Aqua Vita, by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Roberto+Matta&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Roberto Matta</a>, 2002.<ul><li>Roberto Matta (Chilean, 1911-2002).</li><li>Carborundum Etching with hand coloring on heavy hand-made paper.</li><li>Signed and numbered in marker.</li><li>Part of an edition of 103/125.</li><li>Published by Nordstamp.</li><li>This work is presented unframed.</li></ul> Roberto Matta's colorful, Surrealist rendering is filled with spiritual and imaginative elements that emphasize the dreamlike quality of the work.

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