Antoni Tàpies

Spanish painter, sculptor and art theorist, born 13 December 1923 in Barcelona, Spain and died 6 February 2012 in Barcelona, Spain. Antoni Tàpies became one of the most famous European artists of his generation. In 1948, Tàpies helped co-found the first Post-War Movement in Spain known as Dau al Set which was connected to the Surrealist and Dadaist Movements. Tàpies started as a surrealist painter, his early works were influenced by Paul Klee and Joan Miró; but soon become an informal artist, working in a style known as pintura matèrica, in which non artistic materials are incorporated into the paintings. In 1953 he began working in mixed media; this is considered his most original contribution to art. One of the first to create serious art in this way, he added clay and marble dust to his paint and used waste paper, string, and rags.