Roberto Matta

Roberto Matta (1911–2002), born in Santiago, Chile, was a leading figure in Surrealism and a key figure in the development of Abstract Expressionism. After studying architecture and a period at Le Corbusier’s atelier in Paris, he met Dalí and Breton and joined the Surrealist movement. In 1939, he moved to New York with the Surrealist group, where his painting anticipated many innovations that influenced artists of the New York School, such as Gorky and Motherwell. In 1953, he settled in Italy and achieved international fame, with works exhibited in major museums and important retrospectives at the MoMA (1957) and the Centre Pompidou (1985).