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

The Spanish Civil War interrupted the process of artistic renewal that had begun in the first third of the 20th century. However, at the end of the 1940s, in spite of the difficulties of the context, various initiatives began to emerge that aimed to resume this pre-war activity. Among the pioneers, it is worth highlighting the activity of the publishing house Cobalto (1947), which later became the Cobalto 49 Association (1949) and later was replaced by Club 49 (1950), which would become an important platform for the promotion of new art, bringing together the living forces of the country's avant-garde, among them many of intellectuals and artists linked to the former ADLAN.

Aside from its fundamental work in the publishing field -the issue dedicated to surrealism in the magazine Cobalto. Ancient and Modern Art (1948), the monographs devoted to Salvador Dalí (1948), Joan Miró (1949) and Mathias Goeritz (1950), the edition of the first collection of poems by Joan Brossa (1951), Eros by Juan Eduardo Cirlot (1949) or Cartas a sus amigos (Letters to his friends) by Lorca (1950) - it would promote significant exhibitions, such as the one dedicated to the great figure of surrealism Joan Miró (Galerías Layetanas, 1949) or the new artists of Dau al Set (Club de Radio Tarrasa, 1949).

In addition, as a continuation of the Cobalto project or also with its involvement, new cultural offerings would emerge in various enclaves of Spain, such as the Altamira School in Santander and the Segovia, Salamanca and Santiago de Compostela Poetry Congresses.