Antoni Tàpies filled his works with crosses to make us reflect, he talked about the amount of symbology they transmitted, and of hearts because they gave life and they were a sign of esteem and love. Because those small details were what fascinated him, just like daily routines, like “getting dressed every day or putting on socks, first one and then another,” as he explained. “Those actions have something sacred to me,” he said.

From that sublimation of the everyday many of his works were born built with everyday objects such as a soda bottle, plates, a chair or a closet overflowing with clothes, another of its trademarks: the use of textiles.

His son, Toni Tàpies, says, in front of the great exhibition that the Guggenheim Museum dedicated to him, that his father sometimes I went around the house looking for objects which he would later use in his works, as shoes.

From one of those everyday objects his most controversial work was born, which pitted the Generalitat against the Barcelona City Council, who commissioned something for the National Museum of Art of Catalonia for the year of the Games. The artist designed a sock 18 meters high.

To many it seemed inappropriate, the work filled the covers and in the end it was left unbuilt until years later when a reduced version, measuring two meters, was mounted, for the Antoni Tàpies Foundation. Time, like water that cools passions, put everyone in their place and today it is Tàpies whom we celebrate.