A gift from the artist to Mary Lawrence Tonetti, New York
Maxwell Davidson Gallery, New York
Private Collection, New York
Sale: Christie's, New York, Important Latin American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, Part I, May 16, 1995, lot 26, illustrated in color

Los Angeles, Museum of Contemporary Art, September 30, 2001-January 6, 2002; Miami, Miami Art Museum, March 20-June 2, 2002; Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art, July 13-October 20, 2002, Matta in America: Paintings and Drawings of the 1940s

This painting has been reinforced around the tacking edges with linen, but is not lined. The upper right corner and one spot in the upper right quadrant (in the dark vertical shape near the upper right edge) have received retouches. The original paint layer reads quite strongly under ultraviolet light, but apart from the two areas mentioned earlier, the only retouches are a few small spots in the blue passage at the top of the work. The painting is unabraded and in good condition overall. It should be hung in its current state. (This condition report has been provided courtesy of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.)
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The Surrealist Chilean painter Roberto Matta went to Spain as a young student in the early 1930's and ended up in Paris working at the atelier of famed French architect Le Corbusier. Once there, he met the Surrealist group through English painter Gordon Onslow-Ford. Andre Breton was very taken with the drawings of the young architect and encouraged him to join the group and paint. During the summer of 1939, on the eve of World War II, many of the Surrealists spent several months in the countryside at Chemilleu, near the home of collector and poet Gertrude Stein. Here Matta was able to concentrate on his work and began a series of paintings he called Morphologies psychologiques (Psychological Morphologies). In these works, he expounded the Surrealist idea of automatic painting, where thoughts and the unconscious flowed directly to the canvas. Matta's interpretation of this idea brought forth a world where space came forward and receded amongst multicolored areas of color that dripped and swirled, some superimposed like transparent veils of color and others thrusting forth like volcanic lava. The present painting Morphologie psychologique, 1939, is part of this series.

World War II erupted and a mass exodus occurred when Yves Tanguy, Max Ernst, Andre Masson, Andre Breton,  Matta and Onslow Ford left France in the Fall of 1939 for New York. Through this influx of talent from Europe, the center of the art world moved from Paris to New York. As one of the youngest of the émigré artists, and one of the few who was fluent in English, thanks to his American wife Anne C𒆙lark (their son Gordon Matta-Clark would impact t🍬he New York art scene in the 1970's), Matta became a teacher of a new generation of painters. Matta gave conferences at the New School for Social Research in New York where Robert Motherwell  became his protégé.  Matta’s teachings on automatic painting would be a major influence on what would come to be known as the School of New York.

Morphologie psychologique was created at the very beginning of Matta's sojourn in New York. It was a gift to his friend and supporter, pioneer American sculptor Mary Laurence Tonetti. Tonetti , a fascinating character, a woman ahead of her time, who worked with Augustus St. Gaudens and executed a monumental sculpture of Columbus for the 1893 World’s Fair: Columbian exhibition in Chicago. At her house in the Palisades on the banks of the Hudson River outside New York City, she created an enchanted garden with a waterfall and a pergola designed by her friends architects Stamford White and Charles McKim. In this beautiful setting she entertained artists from New York and abroad. Morphologie psychologique with its fluid veils of blue and 𝓡green paint, is perhaps a homage to the waterfall and the windinไg walks and vistas she created next to the Hudson.