Listen to Living
Roberto Matta
Chilean, 1911–2002
1941
An oil on canvas by Roberto Matta that transforms biomorphic shapes and cosmic swirls into a hallucinatory landscape meant to make inner psychic forces visible.
What hits you first is the painterly blur of vivid yellow and cool blue pierced by glossy, black, toothlike forms and spinning orbs, all pulled into a whirling, breathing motion that feels both geological and mental.
Painted in 1941, this piece exemplifies Matta’s move to translate subconscious automatism into vast, abstract terrains, bridging Surrealist psychology and the gestural, large-scale concerns that would inform postwar Abstract Expressionism.
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
29 1/2 x 37 7/8" (74.9 x 94.9 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Inter-American Fund
Accession
33.1942
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
