Spanish painter, sculptor and designer. He was interested in cultural and intellectual matters from a early age. Tapies came into contact with contemporary art in his youth through the magazine D'Ac’ i D'Allˆ, published in Barcelona. In 1942, he produced some paintings inspired by van Gogh and Picasso and, in 1944, studied Law at Barcelona University at the same time as attending drawing lessons at the Valls Academy. In 1946, he decided to abandon his studies so as to concentrate exclusively on his art, producing works which were simultaneously figurative and abstracts. He introduced a great variety of materials generally considered outside the domain of painting, with which he produced works that led to international recognition as one of the most innovative painter associated with Informal Art and Matter Painting. In 1948, he was co-founder of the Dau Al Set group and its magazine. Around 1953, he began to concentrate exclusively on the exploration of the materials under the influence of Informal Art. Until 1968, a series of factors characterised his work: compositional direction and order; variety of techniques in order to obtain material density and a rough texture; sober and sparing use of colour. At the end of the 60s, Tapiés was influenced by Pop Art and began introducing small objects in his paintings that surrounded him on a daily basis. His subsequent interest in Zen philosophy and ideas of void, led him produce installation and conceptual objects. His paintings at the end of the 70s and 80s show the application of this aesthetic of meditative void. His extreme sensibility in relation to the qualities of different materials was similarly applied to his works as a commercial designer and printer. In 1981, he received the gold medal for fine Arts from King Juan Carlos of Spain and the title Honoris Causa from Royal College of Art in London. In 1995, he had a major retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. In 1983, he completed his Monument to Picasso, a monumental construction set in the Paseo del Borne in Barcelona. His works are characterised by mythological and philosophical themes. The scribbled runes and symbols on his paintings have a significance which is simultaneously both magical and comic.
