This evocative composition by Antoni Tàpies centers on a stark, abstract white cross suspended in a field of grayscale texture. A small vintage Spanish tax stamp affixed to the paper draws the viewer into the material and conceptual dualities at play-presence and erasure, form and function, sacred and secular.

Tàpies, a key figure in post-war European abstraction, often employed humble or symbolic materials to imbue his works with spiritual and political undertones. The cross, a recurring motif in his practice, here becomes an icon of both silence and assertion.

An excellent example of Tàpies' poetic materiality and his ability to merge matter and meaning, this piece invites layered readings, from mystical symbolism to social critique.