Avant-garde Spanish painter and sculptor Antoni Tapies has died in Barcelona at age 88, local media reported Monday.

Tapies was hailed as one of the biggest names in European contemporary art for his striking abstract canvases and compositions in which he sometimes used waste material.

He won many awards and was associated early on in his career with other major names in 20th-century art, including fellow Catalan Joan Miro.

He had a prominent art foundation named after him in the city.

The foundation and local authorities were not immediately available to confirm his death.

Barcelona-based newspaper La Vanguardia said he died Monday evening after a spell of ill health, citing the local town hall who, it said, was told of his death by the artist's family.

El Mundo newspaper hailed him as "the last great artist of the 20th century".