ExhibitionFebruary 21, 2024
Antoni Tàpies: The Practice of Art. Museo Reina Sofía
On the occasion of the centenary of Antoni Tàpies (1923-2012), the Museo Reina Sofía and the Fundació Antoni Tàpies are organizing one of the most comprehensive exhibitions dedicated to the artist, with more than 220 works from museums and private collections around the world, showing his career between 1943 and 2012. Manuel Borja-Villel curates the exhibition that will be traveling to BOZAR-Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels (September 14, 2023 - January 7, 2024) and Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona (July 17, 2024 - January 13, 2025).
Tàpies, a self-taught artist, great music lover, and bibliophile, wrote and reflected profusely on the human condition, his historical situation, and artistic practice, especially on the limits and contradictions of painting. His beginnings are marked by the legacy of the historical avant-garde and his link, until the early 1950s, with the Catalan avant-garde group Dau al Set. From then on, Tàpies began prolonged experimentation with matter--characterized by using materials foreign to artistic practice, such as marble dust or cement--which brought him international recognition.
From the sixties onwards, he carried out a series of objectual attempts in which the matter present in his painting began to take on the appearance of everyday objects, while at the same time, he used them to create three-dimensional works. Moreover, at this time, his anti-Franco political commitment becomes more explicit in his work. The beginning of democracy in Spain, with it a new cultural reality, coincides with new material research, the incorporation of varnish, and the influence of oriental spirituality, a reflection of his multiple interests. In his last two decades, marked by the turn of the century, nostalgia pervades Tàpies' work by being aware of his advanced age, death, and illness becoming dominant themes.
Through the selected works, some of which have not been brought together for some time, this exhibition shows the prolific career of Tàpies to resituate his work and influences in the history of recent art.
Tàpies, a self-taught artist, great music lover, and bibliophile, wrote and reflected profusely on the human condition, his historical situation, and artistic practice, especially on the limits and contradictions of painting. His beginnings are marked by the legacy of the historical avant-garde and his link, until the early 1950s, with the Catalan avant-garde group Dau al Set. From then on, Tàpies began prolonged experimentation with matter--characterized by using materials foreign to artistic practice, such as marble dust or cement--which brought him international recognition.
From the sixties onwards, he carried out a series of objectual attempts in which the matter present in his painting began to take on the appearance of everyday objects, while at the same time, he used them to create three-dimensional works. Moreover, at this time, his anti-Franco political commitment becomes more explicit in his work. The beginning of democracy in Spain, with it a new cultural reality, coincides with new material research, the incorporation of varnish, and the influence of oriental spirituality, a reflection of his multiple interests. In his last two decades, marked by the turn of the century, nostalgia pervades Tàpies' work by being aware of his advanced age, death, and illness becoming dominant themes.
Through the selected works, some of which have not been brought together for some time, this exhibition shows the prolific career of Tàpies to resituate his work and influences in the history of recent art.
Gallery
