Antoni Tàpies

An accident led Antoni Tàpies to painting

Antoni Tàpies was born in Barcelona on 13 December 1923, the son of a lawyer and a daughter of a book merchant. He originally wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a lawyer, but an accident at the age of 17, changed his view on life and brought him to painting and drawing. Tàpies was a lifelong self-taught artist, studying the works of the great contemporary Modernist masters in magazines such as D’aci I d’alla, including Wassily Kandinsky, Joan Miró and Pablo Picasso. He did not admire all of them though: He criticised the Surrealist Salvador Dalí for drawing like a school child. Tàpies never received a formal apprenticeship as painter and perhaps this was the reason for the restlessness that did not allow him to ever be satisfied with his art. He was always searching for more, for the detail that had escaped him, which he could make better – and must.

From Surrealism to Informel

While Antoni Tàpies dared to take his first steps as an artist by imitating established masters such as van Gogh and above all his greatest idol Pablo Picasso, he soon found his own style which was in part strongly influenced by Surrealism. A scholarship in 1950 enabled a study period in Paris which he used for the active and intense examination of the lively French art scene. That same year, he held his first solo exhibition in his hometown of Barcelona. Even when the critics celebrate Antoni Tàpies as a master of Abstraction, he saw himself much more as a Realist. Tàpies was seldom satisfied with the mere application of paint, and he increasingly moved away from simple painting to work with solid materials, adding sand, cement and marble dust to his works. In terms of content, also, the artist constantly added new facets, took an interest in religion and philosophy, and augmented his works with unambiguous and ambiguous symbols. The letters A and T are seen repeatedly, A for Antoni and T for Teresa – the name of his wife. Many of his pictures also have an almost spiritually meditative aura and invite the viewer to linger and to attain a soothing calm. 

Art as an independent voice in politics and society

According to Antoni Tàpies, political and social responsibility also belong to art. He took this principle so seriously that, as a co-founder of the artist group Dau al Set (Dice with Seven Eyes), he was temporarily imprisoned under the Franco dictatorship. The creative people around Tàpies had positioned themselves too clearly against the ruling regime. Antoni Tàpies received prizes and awards of all kinds for his art, and a special honour was bestowed upon him in 2010 when he was awarded the hereditary noble title of Marqués de Tàpies. 

Antoni Tàpies died on 6 February 2012 in his hometown of Barcelona.