{"id":68754,"date":"2024-02-26T11:03:08","date_gmt":"2024-02-26T10:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/?p=68754"},"modified":"2024-02-27T09:07:53","modified_gmt":"2024-02-27T08:07:53","slug":"roberto-matta-exhibition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/roberto-matta-exhibition\/","title":{"rendered":"Roberto Matta exhibition"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/mattasmall.jpg\" alt=\"Exhibition banner\" class=\"wp-image-68714\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/mattasmall.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/mattasmall-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>One of the world&#8217;s more influential 20th-century artists features at the Bank Austria Kunstforum Wien. Discover Roberto Matta&#8217;s vision, mastery and creativity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Retrospective covers all his creative periods<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Remarkable works that echo along the decades<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Runs Feb 24 &#8211; Jun 2, 2024<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>See also:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/kunstforum-wien\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"21890\">Bank Austria Kunstforum Wien overview<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/entertainment\/events\/exhibitions\/#modernart\">Modern art exhibitions<\/a> in Vienna<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">On visionaries and tie fighters<\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"198\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/matta3.jpg\" alt=\"Monumental painting by Matta\" class=\"wp-image-68717\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/matta3.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/matta3-300x119.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(Roberto Matta, Co\u00efgitum, 1972; oil on canvas; 400 x 1000 cm; press photo \u00a9 Matta Archives)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once again, I wandered into an exhibition from a position of ignorance. I say this not out of pride (quite the opposite) but to emphasise the impact of Roberto Matta&#8217;s paintings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just walking through the doors into the first gallery felt like arriving home to a storm of visual pleasure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Matta (1911-2022) counts as one of the great visionaries of 20th-century art. Although his work itself defies easy categorisation, he proved a key influence, for example, on the post-WWII wave of US artists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We owe Matta a debt of gratitude, perhaps, for inspiring the New York art scene in particular and thus indirectly blessing Vienna with such exhibitions as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/ways-of-freedom-exhibition\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"51645\">Ways of Freedom<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/khm\/mark-rothko\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"10950\">Mark Rothko<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/robert-motherwell-exhibition\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"64441\">Robert Motherwell<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"338\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/matta1.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of Roberto Matta\" class=\"wp-image-68715\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/matta1.jpg 338w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/matta1-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 338px) 100vw, 338px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(Portrait of Roberto Matta in front of one of his works, Paris, 1959; press photo \u00a9 Arnold Newman, Arnold Newman Collection\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Matta&#8217;s achievements and creations are far deeper than any analysis I can offer, of course, given his historical role in surrealism etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I don&#8217;t actually have the vocabulary to describe the works on display in proper artistic terms. Or even the capacity to grasp how such a mind can work. How you can even hang a painting like the 10m-wide <em>Co\u00efgitum<\/em>, let alone conceive and create it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Matta&#8217;s paintings seem to stem from an imagination riven with colour. Fantastical? Melancholy with a wink? Surrealist? A science fiction novel on canvas? Apocalyptic? Futuristic? Beauty with a beast? See for yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can feel the influences, such as Matta&#8217;s architectural background, sociopolitical opinions and interest in science and space travel. But all synthesised within a unique whole.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"374\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/matta2.jpg\" alt=\"Surrealist painting by Matta\" class=\"wp-image-68716\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/matta2.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/matta2-300x224.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(Roberto Matta, Les T\u00e9moins de l&#8217;univers, 1947-48; oil on canvas, 218,5 x 296 cm; press photo \u00a9 Matta Archives)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Later works in the exhibition become more figurative but I remained captivated by the earlier surrealist forms, which seem prescient and eerily present in today&#8217;s art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maybe I&#8217;ve watched too much Ridley Scott or George Lucas, but various motifs and designs in some of the paintings seemed familiar from the world of screen entertainment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In particular, I saw forms that reminded me of Star Wars. Hints of a rebel pilot helmet in the <em>Eros Ludens<\/em> triptych. Echoes of tie fighters and light sabre training orbs in <em>\u00catre Cible Nous Monde<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But what&#8217;s extraordinary about that perception is the dates of the paintings: 1960 and 1958 respectively and many years before Darth Vader first appeared in cinemas. Perhaps Matta&#8217;s subliminal influence has gone far beyond the art world to reach galaxies far, far away\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Dates, tickets &amp; tips<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Enjoy some visionary inspiration from February 24th to June 2nd, 2024. A ticket for the Bank Austria Kunstforum Wien is, essentially, a ticket for the exhibition, since the venue has no permanent displays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Look for QR codes next to selected works and use your phone to access &#8220;soundcomics&#8221; written and composed specifically for the paintings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to get to Matta<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>See the main <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/kunstforum-wien\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"21890\">Kunstforum article<\/a> for travel tips. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/freyung-2\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"29646\">Freyung square<\/a> is quite central.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Address: Freyung 8, 1010 Vienna<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div align=\"center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/d\/u\/0\/embed?mid=1qE67z-6ZUivs0H9TxrZDHWDR9ObImqBL\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the world&#8217;s more influential 20th-century artists features at the Bank Austria Kunstforum Wien<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68714,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-68754","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-museums","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68754"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68833,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68754\/revisions\/68833"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}