(Santiago, Chile 1911–2002 Civitavecchia, Italy)
Untitled, c. 1974, acrylic, sand on jute-canvas, 253 x 403 cm

The work is registrated in the Archives de l’Oeuvre de Matta, Paris

Photo certificate:
Archives de l’Oeuvre de Matta, Paris, 9 October 2014

Provenance:
Palazzina Liberty, Milan
Collection Dario Fo

In 1974, we found ourselves without a space where we could stage our plays. We asked the City of Milan to rent us the Palazzina Liberty, which had been abandoned as it was in danger of collapsing any day. The councillor in charge granted us permission to use it but, immediately, the opposition Christian Democrats succeeded in blocking the deal, so we occupied the structure – with the support of the entire population – and began to present our theatre.

Many intellectuals supported the birth of this space and helped and supported us in various ways. Among the many artists was a Chilean painter, Sebastian Matta– a man of great social conscience. He declared himself more than happy to execute, on the walls of the building, a number of grotesque paintings that illuminated the obtuseness of the city council. Franca (Rame, ed.) glued some canvases to the wall to prevent the works being lost in case of eviction imposed by the courts. Fortunately, thanks to the support of local residents and the city as a whole, we survived ten years in that theatre we had restored and, by the time we came to leave, my colleagues from Brera came to help us– we were even able to remove Matta‘s paintings from the wall without damaging them, and thence to safety.
(Dario Fo)