Spain(1898-1936):Before time ran out.

As a consequence of the defeat by the United States in 1898 in the war of Independence Spain ceded its last remaining colonies, Cuba and the Phillippines and for the first time in many centuries was obliged to concentrate on all things domestic;Home Affairs. What followed were two decades of significant progression in Agriculture; the development of Mineral resources; Industry and Transportation. Allied to the economic progress came an extraordinary revolution in the Arts and Sciences. For the first time Spain enjoyed a literary and intellectual prominence in Europe. The Generation of 1898 and the Generation of 1927, two groups of artists, writers and thinkers brought about the most productive and influential age of the Arts in Spanish history. At its heart was the Residencia de Estudiantes.

The Residencia intended to create an on-going dialogue between the sciences and the arts and to be a centre for the promotion of avant-garde ideas from all over Europe. At its most productive the poet Federico Garcia Lorca, the film director Luis Buñuel, the painter Salvador Dali and the scientist Severo Ochoa were all in attendance at the same time.

Due to its attraction as a place to debate new ideas, frequent visitors included Miguel de Unamuno, Manuel de Falla, Pedro Salinas and Jose Ortega y Gasset. From other countries came Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier. The Residencia was one of the most important institutions because it allowed artists, writers and scientists to come together and fulfil their ideas. These meetings were known as ‘Tertulias’ and would take place not just in the Residencia but also in bars and restaurants in Madrid.

The Civil War in Spain in 1936 was the beginning of the end for the institution and Franco saw to it that scientific progress was derailed and that most of the artists and writers were exiled and if they had not fled the country, they were left to rot in prison or at worst executed.