Alberto Burri
Alberto Burri pioneered postwar material painting, transforming humble substances—tar, burlap, plastic, wood—into charged abstractions through burning, welding, and suturing. His Catrami (tar) and Combustioni series test the line between wound and surface, entropy and order. The Vatican Museums hold “Catrame II (Tar II),” a spare, tactile panel that turns matter itself into meaning.
Artworks by Alberto Burri
in the Vatican Museums
#111
Catrame II (Tar II)
Shiny tar, rough burlap, and scored scars—Burri turns wounds and waste into a new, sober kind of painting.
Seminal Art Informel: painting made from matter (tar, burlap), not depiction.
