Roberto Matta
Born in 1911 in Santiago (Chile). Died in Civitavecchia (Italy) in 2002.
Painter, architect, sculptor, and poet, he moved to France in 1933 to work in Le Corbusier's studio. During a trip to Spain, he became friends with Garcia Lorca, in Scandinavia with Alvaar Alto, and in London with Moore, Penrose, and Magritte.
At Salvador Dali's request, he visited André Breton: "They called me a 'surrealist,' and I didn't know what that meant!"
In 1939, his new friendship with Tanguy marked an important step in his work, "Psychological Morphologies."
To escape the war, he left for New York to join Duchamp and invited Pollock to his studio. In October 1948, he was expelled from the surrealist group and returned to Chile. He then took part in all the so-called revolutionary causes before settling permanently in Italy until his death.
