“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.
Noria carpet designed by Roberto Matta, limited edition, 1984
By Roberto Matta
Located in Ozzano Dell'emilia, IT
Noria carpet designed by Roberto Matta and realized in a limited edition for Artcurial in 1984. Two pieces available (AP 9/14 and 10/14). Pure new wool pile. Bibliography Germana M...
Wool
Marilyn Limited Edition Rug Design by Studio Amebe
By Sitap Carpet Couture
Located in Milan, IT
A captivating tribute to Marilyn Monroe's famous scene from The Seven Year Itch where her dress rises up with the wind from the subway grate below, this stunning limited edition rug ...
Textile
Picasso Limited Edition Artist Rug/Wall hanging by Desso, Netherlands, 1996
By Desso, (after) Pablo Picasso
Located in Buffalo, NY
Picasso limited edition artist rug or Wall hanging by Desso, Netherlands 1996 Based on the work of Pablo Picasso entitled "Le peintre et son...
Wool
Selce #4 Emathite Red Rug by Studio Salaris by Carpet Edition
By Carpet Edition
Located in Milan, IT
A stunning combination of earth tones graces the surface of this asymmetrical rug designed by Studio Solaris and part of the Selce Collection. Contemporary and unconventional, this p...
Textile
Geneviève Claisse Design No.76 - Artistic Wool Rug - Limited Edition
By Boccara, Geneviève Claisse
Located in New York, NY
-Limited edition artistic wool rug after Genevie`ve Claisse -Design No.76 -Dimensions: 300 x 300 cm; 118.1 x 118.1 in -Manufactured by Boccara
Wool
Limited Edition Abstract Wool Rug by Moscovino, No. 58/250
Located in Milano, IT
This limited-edition rug by Moscovino, numbered 58 of 250, is a striking example of late 20th-century graphic textile design. Woven entirely from 100% pure wool, the composition feat...
Wool
Pierre Balmain Designed Modernist Wool Carpet
By Pierre Balmain
Located in New York, NY
A Pierre Balmain designed modernist wool carpet. Composed of a black background with a decorative tan border surrounding the central composition of th...
Wool
Evolution Part I Rug by Illulian Design Studio Limited Edition
By Illulian
Located in Milan, IT
The spectacular and unique design of the limited edition Evolution Part I rug is half traditional and half dynamic contemporary style. The exquisite accessory i...
Silk, Wool
$35,000
W 157.48 in L 157.48 in
Albert Gleizes, Design No.36 - Artistic Wool Rug Size L - Limited Edition
By Boccara
Located in New York, NY
- Rug after Albert Gleizes (France, 1881-1953) - Octogonal composition, 1924 - Gouache; 21 x 16.5 cm - Measures: 400 x 400 cm; 157.5 x 157.5 in - Signed and dated on the right: Alber...
Wool
Contemporary Arts and Crafts Design Carpet
Located in Gloucestershire, GB
A contemporary interpretation of 19th Century English Arts & Crafts carpets, particularly those of the renowned English textile designer, C.F. A. Voysey. Whose works were largely ins...
Wool
Carpet by Art Line design for EGE Denmark 1970
By Ege Art Line
Located in Arezzo, Italy
Art carpet designed by Art Line and produced by EGE carpet Denmark, 1970. Composition: 100% virgin reindeer wool, jute. Colored rectangular designs in shades of blue, yellow and red ...
Wool
Evolution Part II Rug by Illulian Design Studio Limited Edition
By Illulian
Located in Milan, IT
These unique rug models are customizable in terms of size, colors, shape and composition (percentage of silk compared to the percentage of Himalayan wool or other materials requested...
Silk, Wool
$12,000
W 137 in L 146 in
Artistic Rug by Boccara- Boccara Exclusive Limited Edition - Blue Saint Tropez
By Boccara
Located in New York, NY
-Artistic Rug by Boccara, Blue Saint Tropez -2015 -Wool with Silk border -Limited edition of 8 -371 x 348 cm, 146 x 137 in -Manufactured in Boccara workshop, Egypt, Finishing in Fran...
Wool, Silk