The Charles of Antwerp is transformed and hosts a spectacular Salon of Modern Art

Established in 1594 in Madrid to house the poor and pilgrims from the seventeen provinces of Flanders, the Charles of Antwerp Foundation, presided over by the journalist Miguel Aguilar, has undergone a radical transformation these days to host the 6th edition of the Salon d'Art Moderne (SAM). What was once the building's hospital and chapel, as well as presenting an impressive display of the works of the most acclaimed artists of the 20th century, who have made up the list of painters and sculptors who have imposed their quality throughout the five continents, also houses other artists who dominated the Spanish cultural scene before and after the Civil War.  

Alongside Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, Henri Mattisse, Joan Miró and Andy Warhol, works by Victor Vasarely, Pablo Palazuelo, Alfons Mucha, Manuel Viola, Equipo Crónica and the El Paso Group are on display. 

The great star of the exhibition is clearly Salvador Dalí, the protagonist of a unique artistic event: the dialogue between one of the smallest works by the painter from Cadaqués and one of the largest. They are the set for the ballet "Bacchanale" (1939), which the artist defined as the first paranoid ballet. He wrote the libretto, designed the sets and costumes. The work, developed with the Ballet Russes de Monte Carlo company, was premiered at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, shortly before Dalí and Gala moved to the city of skyscrapers. The other work is "Mauvaise année", created two years earlier. It emphasises the feminine profile of the disquieting smile. Both works belong to the universe that Dalí was creating in those pre-World War II years, through psychoanalysis and his paranoiac-critical method.  

Now, this exhibition at the SAM fair is the first phase of a broader project that aims to deepen and investigate these extraordinary pieces, both in their conceptual and iconographic relations.  

On the other hand, this new path undertaken by the Charles of Antwerp Foundation, the oldest in the Spanish capital, provides a new historical cultural space, thus diversifying its original motto of promoting cultural rapprochement between Spain and the provinces of Flanders, a reunion that allows us to appreciate the many and varied common ties between territories that were at war for eighty years, at the same time as they disputed world domination.