Antoni Tàpies i Puig, 1st Marquis de Tàpies born in Barcelona in 1923 and died in the same city in 2012, was a Catalan painter, sculptor, essayist and art theorist. He is one of the main representatives of informalism. He is considered one of the most prominent Spanish artists of the 20th century.

Self-taught, Tàpies created his own style within the avant-garde art of the 20th century, in which tradition and innovation are combined in an abstract style but full of symbolism, giving great relevance to the material substratum of the work. It is worth emphasising the strong spiritual meaning that the artist gives to his work, where the material support transcends its condition to signify a profound analysis of the human condition. He shows a particular interest in the lacerations, slashes and scratches within these compositions and describes these works as "battlefields where wounds multiply infinitely."

Tàpies transformed the old Montaner i Simon house in Barcelona. He has kept the façade but crowned the roof with a sculpture, Cloud and Chair, made of aluminium tubes and stainless steel wire cloth: the whole is a nimbus from which a suspended seat emerges. It is now the headquarters of the Tàpies Foundation, created in 1984 and dedicated to the study of modern art.

"My illusion is that I have something to pass on. If I can't change the world, I at least want to change the way people look at it. (Antoni Tàpies)

The graphic and plastic elements he uses are found from canvas to canvas, forming a universe of his own. He works with "poor materials" and uses collage, impasto, scraping and tearing techniques. By mixing glue and dye, sometimes combined with sand, dust and earth, Tàpies found his medium, the material through which he would express depth, form, shadow and light, working with tools but also with his body. The cross, taking various forms, stains, graffiti, rectangular shapes (which resemble closed spaces, walls, closed shutters) are recurrent elements of his plastic vocabulary. Through the materials he uses and the forms he creates, Tapiès introduces us to a new world, to new landscapes.

Tàpies' work has been highly regarded both nationally and internationally and has been exhibited in the most prestigious museums in the world. Throughout his career, he has received numerous awards and distinctions, including the Wolf Foundation Prize (1981), the UNESCO Picasso Medal (1993) and the Velazquez Prize for Visual Arts (2003). In recognition of his artistic career, King Juan Carlos I awarded the title of Marquis de Tàpies on 9 April 2010.