Matta born Santiago, Chile 1911; died Civitavecchia, Italy 2002 Rocks 1940 Oil on canvas Matta’s canvas seethes with the pulsating primordial energy and violence of nature’s creative and destructive forces. Vaporous washes of poured and wiped paint create organic forms, which rain from the sky upon the scarred earth. The artist seemed to draw a parallel between the cataclysmic forces of nature and the man made destruction engulfing Europe at the time he created this composition. Of all the Surrealists who emigrated from Paris to New York at the beginning of World War II, Matta became the most actively involved in the city’s artistic community, influencing younger painters such as Robert Motherwell (1915–1991) and Jackson Pollock (1912–1956). By introducing the experimental techniques and theoretical principles of French Surrealism to his adopted home, Matta played an important role in the development of American art after the war. Bequest of Saidie A. May, BMA 1951.335 OS Feb 2023