Antoni Tàpies is considered the most important proponent of Spanish Informel. After an early phase that was influenced by Surrealism and Dadaism, Tàpies arrived at abstraction. He added clay, marble dust, sand or straw to his paint and kept on scratching it off the support medium again, until he had achieved a kind of mural surface. Tàpies integrated letters, symbols, crosses as well as objects or garments in his works. His typical material pictures were made without the use of primary colours, but with all sorts of ordinary materials. He took part in documenta four times and received numerous prizes, including the Praemium Imperiale and the Prince of Asturias Award. Tàpies did not regard himself as an abstract artist, but as a realist.
