The Chilenean Roberto Sebastian Matta is regarded as one of the most important representatives of the second generation of surrealists.
The graphic artist, painter and sculptor, who had actually studied architecture, joined a group of surrealists in 1939, nine years later he had to leave the group for reasons of "intellectual disqualification". However, the oeuvre of Roberto Sebastian Matta was not affected by this: Roberto Matta established an abstract style that is close to Automatism, and that at times showed notions of the detailed visions of hell of Hieronymus Bosch or Pieter Brueghel the Elder. With his surrealist depictions, which made for a small sensation at the second documenta in 1959 ("Being With"), Roberto Sebastian Matta also was an important source of inspiration for the abstract Expressionism of Robert Motherwell or Arshile Gorky.
Important international museums are in possession of works by Roberto Matta, among them the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art or the Museum Folkwang in Essen.