The Composition with Green Tones

Dated 1939, "The Composition with Green Tones" is part of the first productive moment of Roberto Matta, and is a clear example of the particular abstraction that exhibits much of his work. It is an abstract piece, since its organic forms are not representative. Nevertheless, these forms appear in front of a background, yellow in the lower sector and multicolored in the upper one. Thus it is suggested, a space is represented. This spatial representation is reinforced by the overlapping of the various forms, one in front of the other. This fact of perceptual reality, space, will be one of the central issues in all the artist's work.