Gris Violacé aux Rides [Violet Grey with Lines]
About this artwork
The wall is a recurring motif in Tàpies's work and he has related it to the high walls of the dark, narrow streets of his native Barcelona and Catalonia. He remarked: "The image of the wall can contain countless suggestions. Separation, claustrophobia; wailing walls, prison walls; rejection of the world, contemplation, destruction of passion, silence, death..." Most of Tàpies's paintings are black or grey and he even prefered to paint in closed rooms with all daylight blocked out. At the time this piece was painted, it would have formed a sharp contrast to the bright colours used in contemporary Pop Art.
Updated before 2020
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artist:Antoni Tàpies (1923 - 2012) Spanish
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title:Gris Violacé aux Rides [Violet Grey with Lines]
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date created:1961
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materials:Mixed media on canvas
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measurements:200.00 x 176.00 cm; Framed: 202.20 x 177.50 x 3.90 cm
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object type:
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credit line:Purchased 1983
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accession number:GMA 2760
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gallery:
Antoni Tàpies
Antoni Tàpies
Tàpies was born in Barcelona. A self-taught artist, his early work was influenced by Surrealism but from 1953 he began to make abstract works in mixed media. He would 'paint' with a thick paste made of glue, marble dust, plaster and paint: a mixture that produced a substance resembling cement or...