The emotive, spiritual side of Goeritz's art is nowhere better represented than in Message, one of his series of monochromatic plaques begun in 1957, which reached its fullest expression in the 1960s. Message, from 1967, is made of a punched steel sheet which, like the altarpiece of a baroque church, is then carefully covered with gold leaf. The rich texture and profound luminosity of the work is designed to trigger a visceral reaction in the viewer and foster contemplation.

Geometric abstraction is one of the most significant tendencies of the Latin American avant-garde. Artists from Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and Venezuela who have worked in this mode are internationally recognized, including Joaquín Torres-García (Uruguay) and Jesús Rafael Soto (Venezuela)—two highly influential exponents of the form, whose work was acquired by the Collectors Committee in recent years. Mathias Goeritz is arguably the most important artist from Mexico working with so-called "pure abstraction." A teacher, cultural activist, sculptor, painter, and architect, Goeritz is a towering figure who changed the art scene in Mexico in the 1950s and 1960s.

Goeritz was born in Danzig, Germany in 1915. In 1941 he escaped Nazi Germany by way of North Africa, Spain, and ultimately Mexico. While in Spain he organized major exhibitions and played a crucial role in bringing together Spanish avant-garde artists following their civil war. In 1948 he moved to Santillana del Mar in the north of Spain. Fascinated by the cave paintings of nearby Altamira, he founded the School of Altamira, advocating a return to abstract simplicity and collective authorship.

In 1949 Goeritz traveled to Mexico, where he was invited to teach at the School of Architecture at the University of Guadalajara. Four years later he moved to Mexico City. By this time murals in the narrative style of Diego Rivera were discredited among some younger artists, including Goeritz, who opposed the government's institutionalization of a nationalistic art. Goeritz promoted a new form of visual modernity anchored in geometric abstraction and a more cosmopolitan worldview. He wrote manifestos stressing the social and spiritual value of art and criticizing the frivolity of the art world. Both loved and despised—Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros accused him of introducing "dangerous foreign influences"—he was a catalyst for major artistic innovation.

Goeritz is best known for monumental projects that blur the boundaries between sculpture and architecture, such as the Echo Experimental Museum (1953) and the famous Towers of Satellite City (1957-58), a collaborative work with the Mexican architect Luis Barragán. He also created a discrete number of works on a smaller, less architectural scale.

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