Untitled
Gestural marks and abstract forms characterize this untitled composition by Matta. They exemplify the artist’s application of "automatic" techniques associated with Surrealism, to which he was introduced by André Breton, the founder of the movement in Paris. Here, two upright, hybrid figures appear to confront, even antagonize, one another in amid a tense field punctuated with blunt passages of hot yellow and bright red. Reinterpreted by younger American artists in 1940s New York, including Jackson Pollock, Matta’s brand of biomorphic abstraction contributed to the foundation of what became known as Abstract Expressionism.
Artwork Details
- Title: Untitled
- Artist: Roberto Matta (Chilean, Santiago 1911–2002 Civitavecchia, Italy)
- Date: 1949
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 37 1/8 × 63 in. (94.3 × 160 cm)
- Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Gift of Emily Genauer Gash, in memory of her husband, Frederick Gash, 2002
- Object Number: 1994.396
- Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art
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