  roberto sebastiÃ¡n antonio matta echaurren (november 11, 1911 &ndash; november 23, 2002), better known as roberto matta, was one of chile's best-known painters and a seminal figure in 20th century abstract expressionist and surrealist art. ==biography== matta was of spanish, basque and french descent.http://www2.udec.cl/~mariasmo/pintores/roberto%20matta.htm born in santiago, he studied architecture and interior design at the pontificia universidad catÃ³lica de chile in santiago, and graduated in 1935. that spring, he journeyed from peru to panama and completed surreal drawings of many of the geographical features he witnessed. he first encountered europe while serving in the merchant marine after graduating.dolin, bryan. "matta's lucid landscape." surrealism and architecture. by thomas mical. london: routledge, 2005. 53-59. print. his travels in europe and the usa led him to meet artists such as arshile gorky, renÃ© magritte, salvador dalÃ­, andrÃ© breton, and le corbusier.  it was breton who provided the major spur to the chilean's direction in art, encouraging his work and introducing him to the leading members of the paris surrealist movement. matta produced illustrations and articles for surrealist journals such as minotaure. during this period he was introduced to the work of many prominent contemporary european artists, such as pablo picasso and marcel duchamp. the first true flowering of matta's own art came in 1938, when he moved from drawing to the oil painting for which he is best known. this period coincided with his emigration to the united states, where he lived until 1948. his early paintings, such as invasion of the night, give an indication of the work he would continue, with diffuse light patterns and bold lines on a featureless background. this is also the period of the "inscape" series, and the closely related "psychological morphologies". prof. claude cernuschi (see boston college matta exhibition external link below) writ
1911_births 2002_deaths Chilean_painters Chilean_people_of_Basque_descent Chilean_people_of_French_descent Chilean_people_of_Spanish_descent Chilean_sculptors Expressionist_painters People_from_Santiago Recipients_of_the_Praemium_Imperiale Surrealist_artists