Foot (Pied)

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.

1988–1989

Retrospectives in Marseille and Beijing

Major retrospective exhibitions are held in Marseille (1988) and Beijing (1989).