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Roberto Matta Paintings

Chilean, 1911-2002

“The function of art,” the Surrealist Roberto Matta once stated, “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.” In his paintings, Matta sought to expose those forces through the Surrealist practice of automatism, creating work in a free-associative state intended to conjure the unconscious.

After studying architecture in his native Chile, Matta, then 22, chose to pursue the field in Paris, where he mingled with stars of the avant-garde like Gertrude Stein, Salvador Dalí and Walter Gropius. In the late 1930s, he abandoned Paris, together with his job at Le Corbusier’s studio and (for a time) his career, for modern art’s new epicenter, New York City. There, he became a colleague of art legends like Marcel Duchamp and Arshile Gorky.

Although celebrated primarily for his work as a painter, Matta was an equally talented furniture designer. His furniture pieces, like his artworks, are the stuff of dreams. The back of his totem chair, for example, is composed of smiling, cartoonish creatures stacked on top of each other. In his MAgriTTA armchair, the top half of a plush green apple sticks out of large black bowler in homage to its namesake, the Belgian Surrealist René Magritte.

But perhaps the piece that most truly embodies his artistic philosophy is his 1966 Mallite modular system: a collection of spongy, undulating sofas and lounges that can be fitted together to form a puzzle-like room divider. The work, an original edition of which is in MoMA’s permanent collection, has in recent decades been a hard-to-find collectors’ item — until 2019, when Italian design brand Paradisoterrestre issued a reedition, available through Duplex.

Browse Roberto Matta's paintings and furniture designs on 1stDibs.

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Artist: Roberto Matta
Passage et sage du couple
By Roberto Matta
Located in Paris, FR
Pastel, 1964 Handsigned by the artist in pencil and annotated Essai 1/1 Publisher : Georges Visat (Paris) Catalog : Sabatier 110 34.00 cm. x 44.50 cm. 13.39 in. x 17.52 in. (paper) ...
Category

1960s Abstract Roberto Matta Paintings

Materials

Pastel

Untitled - Oil on Canvas by Roberto Sebastian Matta - 1996
By Roberto Matta
Located in Roma, IT
Untitled is an original oil on canvas realized by Roberto Sébastian Matta in 1996. It comes with a certificate of authenticity by Matta's son ...
Category

1990s Surrealist Roberto Matta Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

La vigna di una foglia
By Roberto Matta
Located in Malmo, SE
Technique: Terre colorée sur toile de jute. Delivered with the certificate of authenticity from the archives of Roberto Matta. Artwork size: 100 x 100 cm. Frame size: 114 x 112 cm. Free shipment worldwide. Acquired directly from the artist. “The heart is an eye,” writes Nobel laureate Octavio Paz in an essay on Matta’s paintings. Matta creates a world coloured both by a sunny faith in the future and by visions of impending doom. Roberto Sebastian Echaurren Antonio Matta, who died aged 91 on 23 November 2002, was born in Santiago, Chile, on 11 November 1911 into a family with Spanish, French and Basque roots, and raised in an atmosphere of religiosity. By the age of 21 he had graduated and begun work as an architect, but his leisure time he devoted to sketching and painting. In 1933 he travelled to Europe for the first time, visiting Greece, Yugoslavia, Italy and other countries, and subsequently taking the initiative to collaborate with the architect, Le Corbusier. As time passed, however, Matta’s enthusiasm for a career in architecture waned, and he began to devote himself full-time to art, making early acquaintances with surrealists such as Max Ernst, Salvador Dalí, André Breton and others. Between 1939 and 1948 Matta, like many of his artistic contemporaries, lived in self-imposed exile in the USA, but, after almost 10 years’ absence from Europe, he returned to make first Rome and then, a few years later, Paris his home. Throughout most of the rest of his life Matta commuted between his studio in Paris and his creative refuge in the monastery outside Rome. And it is here, in Italy, that he produced his greatest paintings. Matta’s first retrospective in Sweden was organised in 1956 when his works were exhibited in what was then Galerie Colibri – run by, among others, the artist C O Hultén at number 36 Södra Förstadsgatan in Malmö, Sweden. This was also the time when Matta began to collaborate with poets and other artists in Sweden. He produced the illustrations for Lasse Söderberg’s first anthology of poems, Akrobaterna (“The Acrobats”), published in 1955, and was also responsible for the cover of the Swedish art and literary magazine Salamander. In 1959 the first museum exhibition of Matta’s work in Europe was arranged at the Museum of Modern Art (Moderna Museet) in Stockholm. Held under the aegis of Pontus Hultén, it was entitled “Fifteen Forms of Doubt” and included 15 or so gigantic paintings...
Category

1980s Surrealist Roberto Matta Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Mixed Media

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Artwork size: 105×83 cm. Frame size: 112×91×4,5 cm. This artwork is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by Alisée Matta. Provenance: Gallery Alexander Iolas, New York. Free shipment worldwide. “The heart is an eye,” writes Nobel laureate Octavio Paz in an essay on Matta’s paintings. Matta creates a world coloured both by a sunny faith in the future and by visions of impending doom. Roberto Sebastian Echaurren Antonio Matta, who died aged 91 on 23 November 2002, was born in Santiago, Chile, on 11 November 1911 into a family with Spanish, French and Basque roots, and raised in an atmosphere of religiosity. By the age of 21 he had graduated and begun work as an architect, but his leisure time he devoted to sketching and painting. In 1933 he travelled to Europe for the first time, visiting Greece, Yugoslavia, Italy and other countries, and subsequently taking the initiative to collaborate with the architect, Le Corbusier. As time passed, however, Matta’s enthusiasm for a career in architecture waned, and he began to devote himself full-time to art, making early acquaintances with surrealists such as Max Ernst, Salvador Dalí, André Breton and others. Between 1939 and 1948 Matta, like many of his artistic contemporaries, lived in self-imposed exile in the USA, but, after almost 10 years’ absence from Europe, he returned to make first Rome and then, a few years later, Paris his home. Throughout most of the rest of his life Matta commuted between his studio in Paris and his creative refuge in the monastery outside Rome. And it is here, in Italy, that he produced his greatest paintings. Matta’s first retrospective in Sweden was organised in 1956 when his works were exhibited in what was then Galerie Colibri – run by, among others, the artist C O Hultén...
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Pomme de Mer
Pomme de Mer
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Passage et sage du couple
By Roberto Matta
Located in Paris, FR
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Espacio de l'Especie
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Untitled - Original Oil on Canvas by Roberto Sebastian Matta - 1987
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Le centre du cicle
By Roberto Matta
Located in Malmo, SE
Artwork size: 145×140 cm. Frame size: 152×148×4,5 cm. Acquired directly from the artist. This work is registered in the Archives of Roberto Matta, under number 71/82 and is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by Germana Ferrari-Matta. Free shipment worldwide. “The heart is an eye,” writes Nobel laureate Octavio Paz in an essay on Matta’s paintings. Matta creates a world coloured both by a sunny faith in the future and by visions of impending doom. Roberto Sebastian Echaurren Antonio Matta, who died aged 91 on 23 November 2002, was born in Santiago, Chile, on 11 November 1911 into a family with Spanish, French and Basque roots, and raised in an atmosphere of religiosity. By the age of 21 he had graduated and begun work as an architect, but his leisure time he devoted to sketching and painting. In 1933 he travelled to Europe for the first time, visiting Greece, Yugoslavia, Italy and other countries, and subsequently taking the initiative to collaborate with the architect, Le Corbusier. As time passed, however, Matta’s enthusiasm for a career in architecture waned, and he began to devote himself full-time to art, making early acquaintances with surrealists such as Max Ernst, Salvador Dalí, André Breton and others. Between 1939 and 1948 Matta, like many of his artistic contemporaries, lived in self-imposed exile in the USA, but, after almost 10 years’ absence from Europe, he returned to make first Rome and then, a few years later, Paris his home. Throughout most of the rest of his life Matta commuted between his studio in Paris and his creative refuge in the monastery outside Rome. And it is here, in Italy, that he produced his greatest paintings. Matta’s first retrospective in Sweden was organised in 1956 when his works were exhibited in what was then Galerie Colibri – run by, among others, the artist C O Hultén at number 36 Södra Förstadsgatan in Malmö, Sweden. This was also the time when Matta began to collaborate with poets and other artists in Sweden. He produced the illustrations for Lasse Söderberg’s first anthology of poems, Akrobaterna (“The Acrobats”), published in 1955, and was also responsible for the cover of the Swedish art and literary magazine Salamander. In 1959 the first museum exhibition of Matta’s work in Europe was arranged at the Museum of Modern Art (Moderna Museet) in Stockholm. Held under the aegis of Pontus Hultén, it was entitled “Fifteen Forms of Doubt” and included 15 or so gigantic paintings and about 3 dozen drawings. Today Matta is represented in virtually all world-class museums. Siwert Bergström first contacted Matta in Paris in 1976, visiting him in his studio there and later at his home in Rome. The outcome of the meetings was an exhibition at Galleri Kända Målare in Jönköping, Sweden, later the same year. In 1988 several of Matta’s works were shown at Galleri GKM in Malmö, and in conjunction with this exhibition the gallery published a book on Matta with texts by Octavio Paz, including the prose poem “The Heart is an Eye”. The book also contains contributions by Lasse Söderberg, Ingemar Leckius and text fragments penned by Matta himself, one of which is his prose poem “The Earth is a Man”. In the autumn of 1991 Galleri GKM organised a second Matta exhibition...
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1970s Surrealist Roberto Matta Paintings

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Canvas, Oil

Le centre du cicle
Le centre du cicle
H 59.85 in W 58.27 in D 1.97 in
Espacio de l'Especie
By Roberto Matta
Located in Fort Lauderdale, FL
By rejecting a fixed vantage point, Matta sought to transform the traditional understanding of time and space and re-interpret the fluctuating energy in the universe. Created as the ...
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1960s Surrealist Roberto Matta Paintings

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Oil

Threshold of Love
By Roberto Matta
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Roberto Matta, Chilean (1911 - 2002) Title: Threshold of Love Year: 1955 Medium: Oil on Canvas Size: 46 in. x 59 in. (116.84 cm x 149.86 cm) Accompanied by a certifica...
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1950s Surrealist Roberto Matta Paintings

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Canvas, Oil

Roberto Matta paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Roberto Matta paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. If you’re browsing the collection of paintings to introduce a pop of color in a neutral corner of your living room or bedroom, you can find work that includes elements of blue and other colors. You can also browse by medium to find art by Roberto Matta in canvas, fabric, oil paint and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the Surrealist style. Not every interior allows for large Roberto Matta paintings, so small editions measuring 18 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Eugene Berman, Clayton Anderson, and Patrick Faure. Roberto Matta paintings prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $3,883 and tops out at $127,935, while the average work can sell for $57,294.
Questions About Roberto Matta Paintings
  • 1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022
    Roberto Matta is a painter who became a noted part of the Surrealist movement. Born Roberto Antonio Sebastian Matta Echaurren in 1922 in Santiago, Chile, the artist began his professional life as an architect and slowly switched to painting. His work often featured complex biomorphic forms in disturbing settings, making him an important influence in the post World War II era. Shop a selection of Roberto Matta pieces from some of the world’s top art dealers on 1stDibs.
  • 1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022
    Chilean-born Roberto Matta is a modern art painter primarily known for his work in blending surrealism with abstract expressionism. You can shop a selection of expertly vetted Fairfield Porter pieces from some of the world’s top art dealers on 1stDibs.

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