Le Poing du Jour

Roberto Matta was attracted to Surrealism’s blending of literature and the visual arts through an exploration of conscious and unconscious states of mind. One of Matta’s first contributions to the group’s magazine, "Minotaure", was an article titled “Mathematique sensible-Architecture du temps” (Mathematics, sensible-Architecture of time), written in sophisticated and original prose. Matta’s work is filled with literary images, and he often referred to his paintings as visual poems. "Le Poing du Jour", a print that pays homage to Picasso’s painting "Guernica", introduces a pun in order to convey layers of meaning. The subtle twist in the title alters the idiomatic French expression, “le point du jour,” meaning daybreak or dawn, by switching the word "point" for "poing", meaning fist or punch, as in “coup du poing.” A victorious fist threatens to punch the hybrid eye-bulb-sun figure, recalling Surrealist visual strategies aimed as direct attacks against passive bourgeois viewers. Furthermore, the raised fist was a Republican salute used during the Spanish Civil War; its centrality here thus celebrates Picasso’s political critique almost forty years after the bombing of Guernica by the Nazi-allied forces of Spain’s dictator, Francisco Franco. The reference to Picasso’s iconic figures, such as the bull, the bulb, and the dog, through softly delineated curved lines unifies all the elements in the composition, transforming geometric, Cubist space into an environment of organic growth. The absence of color renders Matta’s line almost invisible. The scarce earthly tones used to emphasize the central figures grants this work dramatic effect, making it both a hopeful and somber landscape.

This text was created in collaboration with the University of Maryland Department of Art History & Archaeology and written by Patricia Ortega-Miranda.