Roberto Matta

ROBERTO MATTA (Santiago de Chile, 1911 - Civitavecchia, 2002)
"Geyser de la mémoire", 1972-74.
Oil on canvas.
Signed "R. Matta" on the stretcher frame.
Work accompanied by certificate of authenticity issued by Ramuntcho Matta and registered in the archives under reference CAN072F985.
Provenance: -Pierre & Geneviève Hebey Collection, France -Sale: Camard & Associés, Paris, 2012, lot 65 -Sale: Sotheby's, New York, 2018, lot 323 -Private collection, Spain.
Measurements: 218 x 204 cm.

In "Geyser de la mémoire," Matta deploys a large-format pictorial space that envelops the viewer and places him or her within a field of tensions in constant transformation. The composition is organized as a dynamic system where architectural forms, organic structures and linear signs coexist in an unstable equilibrium.

On a deep background, worked by means of glazes, light beams and color vectors -yellow, acid, incandescent- burst through the surface like impulses. These lines, close to energetic diagrams or trajectories, articulate the space and refer directly to the title: the image behaves like a "geyser", a force that emerges from the latent, projecting outward fragments of memory, thought and intuition.

This approach is inscribed in the investigation of "inscapes", the central axis of Matta's thought, where painting becomes a representation of the mental landscape. In this context, the work does not describe, but rather proposes a space of interaction between the psychic, the cosmic and the material, anticipating visual languages close to contemporary science and the idea of complex systems.

The work belongs to a particularly intense period, both formally and vitally. In these years, marked by a convulsive historical context linked to Chile, Matta's painting incorporates a deeper tension, where the notion of memory acquires resonances that oscillate between the individual and the collective.

Because of its scale, the sophistication of its language and its belonging to a stage of full maturity, this work is among the most representative of his late production. Its solid provenance and official certification also reinforce its relevance within the artist's corpus and the international market.

Roberto Matta was one of the great renovators of 20th century painting. Linked to André Breton's circle along with artists such as Duchamp and Tanguy, he actively participated in the development of the surrealist language and, during his stay in New York in the 1940s, he had a decisive influence on the development of abstract expressionism.

Throughout his career he exhibited in leading institutions and galleries in Europe and the United States, and was the subject of important retrospectives. His work is part of the collections of museums such as the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Tate Gallery in London, the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid.

Recognized with the Chilean National Art Prize, his production consolidated a unique language that integrates scientific thought, psychic imaginary and cosmic vision, placing him as a key figure in the evolution of contemporary art.