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The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

Antoni Tàpies: The Practice of Art

Antoni Tàpies, Box of Red Shirt, 1972.

Until Jan 7, 2024
Rue Ravenstein 23, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium

In the years after W.W. II, the Catalan artist Antoni Tàpies was in his early 20s and in search of his artistic voice. He was connected to the Surrealists, and his paintings were influenced by Paul Klee and Joan Miró. But in the early 1950s Tàpies found himself drawn to mixed media—a style called pintura matèrica (material painting). He coated his paintings with clay and marble dust, and began placing paper, strings, and even rags on his canvases. Tàpies was deft and profound in the art he made from odd matter. He died in 2012, at age 88, and this retrospective is his first major exhibition in Belgium. It showcases work from his most important period, 1944 to the 1990s. —Elena Clavarino

Photo: © Augustin de Valence