A commitment to the new art Journeys of the avant-garde in Catalonia through the Rafael and María Teresa Santos Torroella collection Temporary exhibition

As a result of Spanish neutrality during the First World War, Barcelona during the years of the conflict became a major haven for European avant-garde artists who, while fleeing the war, settled in the Catalan capital and acted as catalysts for the cultural environment in the city. Among them were the likes of Albert Gleizes, Serge Charchoune, Helena Grünhof, Francis Picabia, Sonia and Robert Delaunay, Marie Laurencin, Mela Muter, Olga Sacharoff, Otho Lloyd and Arthur Cravan.

This exceptional state of events was utilised by the art dealer Josep Dalmau (1867-1937), who organised a series of avant-garde art exhibitions at his gallery (1911-1930) which were pioneering events in Spain and Europe: the Cubist Art Exhibition (1912), the Avant-Garde French Art Exhibition (1920), the National and Foreign Modern Art Exhibition (1929) and exhibitions by Albert Gleizes (1916), Serge Charchoune (1917), Joaquín Torres García (1917), Joan Miró (1918), Rafael Barradas (1920), Francis Picabia (1922) and Salvador Dalí (1925), among others. In addition, Dalmau in his gallery provided room for the innovative magazines 391 (1917), by the Dadaist Francis Picabia, and Troços (1917-18), by the poet Josep Maria Junoy.

During the same years, other significant events took place in Barcelona that placed the city at the forefront of the European avant-garde, such as the exhibition of the Parisian salons interrupted by the war or the arrival of Diaghilev's legendary Russian ballets, both in 1917. These events in turn motivated the return of Pablo Picasso to the Catalan capital for the premiere at the Liceu of the ballet Parade, for which the artist had designed costumes and sets.