This evocative abstract work is an excellent example of Matamoro’s technical mastery, the outcome of his experimentation with matter begun years earlier in Madrid and in New York (1988-89). In the 1980s, Matamoro had already used small-format landscaped supports in his Paisajes facturados (1987), a body of work consisting of matter-laden pieces emulating travel notebooks.

After his expressionistic beginnings, his practice became more toned down, less baroque, although still driven by a visionary concept. This mixture of landscape and subtle figurative bodies is typical of this period in his painting, grounded in a powerful palette of contrasts with a strong visual impact.

The forms in this work bring to mind the compositions of cave painting, an ancestral suggestion of nature as a whole removed from his earlier practice, more focused on objects or urban exteriors set in a changing convulsive nature.

In this work, made during his sojourn in Rome, Matamoro created an abstract composition using elements from the real world. Some mysterious giraffes seem to be walking towards an imprecise place, in a warm atmosphere of intense orange tones typical of a southern sunset. Three giraffes move towards a whitish mist before them, creating a point of contrast in the overall composition and providing it with a touch of mystery and reverie.