Roberto Matta facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Roberto Matta
1960
Born	Roberto Sebastián Antonio Matta Echaurren (1911-11-11)November 11, 1911 Santiago, Chile
Died	November 23, 2002(2002-11-23) (aged 91) Civitavecchia, Italy
Nationality	Chilean
Education	architecture and interior design at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Known for	Painting
Movement	Surrealism
Awards	Praemium Imperiale

Roberto Sebastián Antonio Matta Echaurren (born November 11, 1911 – died November 23, 2002), known simply as Roberto Matta, was a famous Chilean painter. He was a very important artist in the 20th century, known for his abstract expressionist and surrealist art.

Roberto Matta's Life Story

Matta was born in Santiago, Chile. He had family roots from Spain, the Basque region, and France. He studied architecture and interior design at a university in Santiago. He finished his studies in 1935.

After graduating, Matta traveled a lot. He went from Peru to Panama and made interesting drawings of the places he saw. He also worked on a merchant ship, which took him to Europe and the USA. During his travels, he met many famous artists like René Magritte, Salvador Dalí, and André Breton.

How Matta Became a Surrealist Artist

André Breton, a leading figure in the Surrealist movement, greatly encouraged Matta's art. Breton introduced Matta to other important Surrealist artists in Paris. Matta even created drawings and wrote articles for Surrealist magazines. This helped him learn about the work of artists like Pablo Picasso and Marcel Duchamp.

Matta started painting with oil paints in 1938. This is what he became most famous for. Around this time, he moved to the United States, where he lived until 1948.

Matta's Unique Painting Style

His early paintings, like Invasion of the Night, showed his unique style. They often featured soft light and strong lines on a plain background. He also created a series of works called "inscapes" and "psychological morphologies."

Matta wanted to show how the human mind works through his art. He was inspired by ideas from Sigmund Freud about the mind as a three-dimensional space. His "inscapes" were like visual pictures of the artist's own mind.

During the 1940s and 1950s, world politics were very troubled. This difficult time influenced Matta's art. His paintings became filled with images of machines and sad, distorted figures. In the 1960s, he even added clay to his paintings, which made the shapes look even more unusual.

Elle Loge La Folie, oil on canvas, 1970.

Matta was one of the first artists to blend natural shapes with cosmic life forms in his art. This style is called biomorphism. He was truly a pioneer in abstract art.

Art and Social Change

Matta believed that art and poetry could change people's lives. He was very involved in social movements during the 1960s and 1970s. He strongly supported the socialist government of President Salvador Allende in Chile.

He painted a huge mural called The First Goal of the Chilean People. After Allende's government was overthrown in 1973, the new military government painted over Matta's mural. But in 2005, the mural was rediscovered. It was fully restored in 2008 and is now displayed in Santiago.

Matta worked with many different materials throughout his life. He used ceramics, photography, and even made videos. He passed away in Civitavecchia, Italy, in 2002, shortly after his 91st birthday.

Matta had six children. Some of them also became artists, like Gordon Matta-Clark, Sebastian Matta, Ramuntcho Matta, Federica Matta, and Pablo Echaurren.

Art Exhibitions

Group Art Shows

In 2019, Matta's art was shown in an exhibition called The Gift of Art at the Pérez Art Museum Miami. This show featured important artworks by Latinx and Latin American artists. Other artists in the exhibition included José Bedia and Wifredo Lam.

Famous Artworks by Roberto Matta

See also

In Spanish: Roberto Matta para niños

• Art of Chile