Within the framework of the centenary of the birth of Antoni Tàpies (1923-2012), the exhibition The Practice of Art presents a synthesis of the research and development of the artist over eight decades of intense production. From his first works of the 1940s to those finished months before his death, Tàpies continually experimented with all types of supports, techniques and materials, freeing himself from the constraints of academic tradition. His drawings, collages, paintings, objects and sculptures, made of paper, cardboard, wood, marble dust, varnish or bronze among many other elements, propose new aesthetic ways of addressing the contemporary world, from a perspective based on matter and existence. Thanks to numerous loans from public institutions and private collections, both national and international, this retrospective constitutes one of the largest surveys of his work to date. 

Following the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels and the Reina Sofía Museum, Madrid, the final presentation of The Practice of Art takes as its starting point the memory contained in the space of the Fundació Antoni Tàpies, now Museu Tàpies. Reflecting on some projects that have marked the institution’s history, the exhibition presents a non-linear journey through the artist’s career, articulated around different environments that establish relationships beyond chronology. When Tàpies states, for example, ‘I began painting eyes and I will end up painting eyes!’, he seems to be referring precisely to the cyclical or spiral time that imbues the whole of his work, in which motifs, materials and formats are repeated over the years, always with relevant differences. More than each individual work, it is the multiple links between the works – latent from the moment of their creation in the studio and recovered when exhibited together – that offer keys to understanding the complexity and relevance of Tàpies’ artistic practice.