Pissarra

c. 1970

Objects in the paintings: pieces of furniture

Influenced by Pop Art, he begins incorporating more substantial objects into his paintings, such as parts of furniture.

1970s–1980s

Meditative emptiness and Eastern calligraphy

The paintings Tàpies produced later, in the 1970s and 1980s, reveal an aesthetic of meditative emptiness: spray-painted canvases with linear elements suggestive of Oriental calligraphy and mixed-media paintings that extend the vocabulary of Art informel, with imagery appearing only as oblique allusions within a fundamentally abstract idiom.

1970–1999

Essays on art, life and politics

His essays are collected in a series of books: “La pràctica de l'art” (1970), “L'art contra l'estètica” (1974), “Memòria personal” (1978), “La realitat com a art” (1982), “Per un art modern i progressista” (1985), “Valor de l'art” (1993) and “L'art i els seus llocs” (1999). In them he reflects on art, life and politics, on the social role of art and of the artist, on the influences on his work, and sets out his artistic and political views.

1972

Rubens Prize

He receives the Rubens Prize.

1973

Retrospective at the Musée National d'Art Moderne

A major retrospective is held at the Musée National d'Art Moderne in Paris.

1974

The lithographs “Assassins” in memory of Puig Antich

He makes a series of lithographs, “Assassins”, and shows it at the Galerie Maeght in Paris in memory of the militant anarchist Salvador Puig Antich.