Antoni Tapies was a Catalan artist, born in Barcelona in 1923. He belonged to an aristocratic family of the 19th century with a background in book-making. This stimulated his love for reading as he was growing up. During his early years, he suffered a lung disease that made him abandon law school. His first artistic pieces were influenced by WWII and the impact of the atomic bomb. These paintings and sculptures feature dust, earth, matter and atoms through innovative techniques. All these elements were to become characteristic of his painting style. Subsequently, he was influenced by Klee and Miro and increased his iconographic compositions, incorporating more expressionism, intense textures and geometric elements.
