The Renovador Movement (Galician: Movemento Renovador ) was a cultural and artistic movement that emerged in the Spanish region of Galicia during the first half of the 20th century. The artists associated with the group, known as Os Renovadores ("The Renewers"), aimed to revitalize Galician art by integrating the international avant-garde with a distinct regional identity. Building on the 19th-century literary revival known as the Rexurdimento , the movement sought to create a modern art form that was both universal and uniquely Galician.

A central figure, Alfonso Daniel Rodríguez Castelao, articulated the group's philosophy that art could achieve global relevance precisely through its local character, rather than by abandoning it. This led to an eclectic style where artists adopted formal elements from movements like Cubism , Expressionism , and Surrealism but applied them to Galician subjects, including landscapes, portraits of working people, and scenes of social reality. The movement encompassed painting, innovative sculpture by artists like Francisco Asorey, and a strong tradition of graphic satire, with many of its key figures continuing their work in exile in the Americas following the Spanish Civil War.

The cause of the Renovador Movement is rooted in several historical and socio-political events that occurred in the region of Galicia over the centuries. Understanding the historical context behind the movement is pretty much essential to appreciate the motivations and expression  of the artists.

During the Middle Ages , the Galician-Portuguese language once came to be the lingua franca accross the Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. However, when the kingdoms of Galicia and Leon became part Castile, the Castilian language (nowadays better known as Spanish) was also introduced to the regions. Following the union of kingdoms of Castile and Aragón, the Spanish Empire became an united nation, and the Castilian language became the national language and its use was considered prestigious, unlike other languages spoken within the country (including Galician itself, Catalan, Basque, Aragonese, and Astur-Leonese, as well as countless languages native to overseas colonies). In Galician history, the period when Castilian came to be the dominant language is known as the Séculos Escuros ("Dark Centuries"), corresponding to the 16th to 18th centuries. At the time, the Galician language was hardly used in public administration or literary works, and it didn't even have a standarized grammar yet. Galician remained as a language spoken by the lower classes, strictly used in daily life rather than formal contexts.

During the 19th century, a linguistical revival movement arose, known as the Rexurdimento ("Resurgence"). It officially began when Rosalía de Castro released one of her most iconic literary works: " Cantares gallegos ". This movement was influenced by romantic nationalism and focused on literature and poetry, developing a standard grammar for the Galician language, and aiming for its recognition as an official language within Spain. During this time period, Galician regionalism was the strongest it had ever been, coinciding with a similar language revival movement in Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearics: the Renaixença . During the Age of Enlightenment, regional languages came to be seen as a positive part of local culture in Spain, contrasting with other European countries which rather promoted universalization or a centralized culture. The most renowned Galician writers of this time period include Castelao, Rosalía de Castro, Emilia Pardo Bazán, Eduardo Pondal and Curros Enríquez. Their literature would heavily influence the works of the Renovadores .

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a significant wave of Galician emigration to the Americas surged, primarily to countries like Argentina, Uruguay, Cuba and Venezuela. Between 1850 and 1960, over two million Galicians left their region seeking a better life. This was primarily caused by the limited economic opportunities or poverty, and later on, political persecution. Many of these Galician settlers maintained strong ties to their culture and homeland regardless of their birth place.

The 1930s were a very complex and politically unstable period in Spain, characterized by constant disagreements and political disputes between republicans or liberals, nationalists or conservatives, fascists, regionalists and anarchists. During the brief period of the Second Spanish Republic (1931-1936), Galician regionalism was at its peak and they aimed to achieve regional autonomy as well as linguistical rights. The Spanish Civil War caused millions of citizens to flee Spain and relocate to other countries, and the many artists associated with the Renovador Movement were no exception. During Francisco Franco's dictatorship, linguistical persecution became common, and in extreme cases, people would get executed for their ideology. These violations of human rights prevailed during the first decades of Francoism, and linguistical freedom was officially introduced in the 70s following the Spanish transition to democracy.

During the Rexurdimento , despite the fact it was mainly centered around linguistical revival, literature and poetry, there were some efforts to reincorporate Galician culture into the local arts and other fields essential for intellectualism. Such examples include the development of Baroque architecture in Santiago de Compostela.

Coinciding with the Age of Enlightenment, Galician writers and intellectuals such as Benito Jerónimo Feijóo and Martín Sarmiento became really representative authors of Spanish enlightenment philosophy. In the plastic arts, styles like Romanticism , Realism and Post-Impressionism were frequently used to depict Galician landscapes in art, with heavy influences from Paul Cézanne's works. Many of the Galician painters from this time period were really promising and precede what would later evolve into the Renovador Movement, although during the 1900s, a significant number of these artists died at at a young age (typically aged 30 years old or younger) due to the outbreaks of the tuberculosis disease worldwide. The term Xeración Doente (roughly "Suffering Generation") was coined in 1922 to refer to these artists who passed away from the disease.

Most paintings preceding the Renovador movement were painted between the 1880s and 1900s .

The emergence of Os Renovadores (the group of artists, intellectuals, architects and writers associated with this movement) can be attributed to the importance of Avant-garde movements in Europe during the early 20th century, also known as the "vanguards". Artists such as Picasso, Miró, and Dalí, who were the most representative artists, inspired Galician intellectuals and artists such as the Xeración Nós group to connect Galicia with the broader European cultural scene. This aspiration led to the emergence of the "Generation of 1925" (Galician: Xeración de 1925 ), mainly composed of artists born in the 1900s, who sought to modernize Galician artistic expression, including but not limited to theatre and poetry. They also pioneered " Neotrobadorismo " and  " Hilozoísmo ", two movements within Galician poetry.

Galician plastic artists who began their careers in the early 1900s maintained a connection to the legacy of older artists like Díaz Baliño, Castelao, and Asorey. However, they aimed to revitalize and democratize Galician traditions, making them accessible to a wider audience not only in Galicia but also in Spain and around the world. This period saw increased collaboration between writers and artists, often centered on the newspaper El Pueblo Gallego , which had written works published in both Spanish and Galician languages.

One of the most important moments of this movement occurred in 1921 when Daniel Castelao received a scholarship from Santiago Ramón y Cajal to study the European avant-garde ideas and art. During his travels, Castelao began to reflect on the relationship between national and universal artistic expression. He rejected the notion that interacting with the broader European artistic scene inherently required abandoning regional identities and local culture. His opinions, published on the magazine " Nós ", supported the idea that Galician art, just like Spanish art, could contribute to the global artistic scene and not remain as a simple local product.

To Castelao, art can be universal and cosmopolitan, but it should also be linked to the cultural heritage of the artist. When he interacted with the avant-garde scene of Central Europe, he made negative personal comments about Picasso, who had moved away from his regional roots and developed Cubism in Paris, after he had trained and studied the arts in Catalonia and Galicia. Castelao also favored the vanguard movements of Russia over the Western European ones because he perceived them as being "linked to the people". This perspective also resonated with Manuel Antonio, a poet from the same town as him, who also wanted to renew the Galician visual arts by taking inspiration from their very culture.

Other Galician artists who travelled extensively during their careers were Carlos Maside and Manuel Colmeiro. Maside's works were exhibitioned in the United States by the Carnegie institute. He also made notable posters advocating for Galician autonomy within the Spanish state (pictured in the "Historical Context" section). Following the Spanish Civil War, Manuel Colmeiro was exiled to Argentina, where he kept developing his art. One of his most notable artworks are the murals of Galerías Pacífico , a mall located in Buenos Aires (pictured in the infobox). Those murals used nuances relating to Argentine culture and society, and he collaborated with other Argentine-European artists during their creation. He also interacted with other figures like Seoane, Rafael Dieste, and Rafael Alberti. Colmeiro eventually moved to Paris in 1949, and during the 60s, his works were exhibited in London and he won several awards. Following the Spanish transition to democracy, he relocated back to Galicia in 1989.

Francisco Asorey, born in 1889, adhered to figurative style in his sculptures, but incorporated vibrant polychromy with an expressionistic texture, alongside innovative themes. He didn't embrace complete rupture, iconoclasm, or abstraction like some avant-garde artists did. For example, a commission for a parish in A Estrada led him to depict the Virgin Mary with a Eucharistic host on her chest, a representation the priest ultimately rejected. Asorey's use of religious imagery in secular contexts, such as the Eucharistic host from the Galician coat of arms, aligned with the artistic approach of his contemporary, Camilo Díaz Baliño.

In the 1920s, members of the Irmandades da Fala (Brotherhoods of the Language) actively promoted Galician-language theater and playwriting. They founded the Escola Dramática Galega between 1922 and 1926, a period Leandro Carré Alvarellos considered a "golden age" for Galician theater. Notable playwrights of this era included Ramón Cabanillas, known for works like " A man da santiña " (The Hand of the Little Saint) and " O mariscal " (The Marshal), Armando Cotarelo Valledor who wrote " Mourenza ," and Vicente Risco.

In the early 20th century, writers like Antonio Noriega Varela and Ramón Cabanillas combined 19th-century aesthetics and the emerging avant-garde. Noriega Varela's work presented a poetic and impressionistic view of nature, initiating a trend known as "neo-Virgilianism" or "humanist landscape painting." Cabanillas drew inspiration from poets like Curros Enríquez, Rosalía de Castro, and Eduardo Pondal, incorporating modernist elements into his writing.

Rafael Dieste emerged as a leading figure in the "Generation of 1925." In the early 1930s, Federico García Lorca established La Barraca, a traveling theater group that toured the Iberian Peninsula. Ernesto Guerra da Cal and Urbano Lugrís contributed to the set design for La Barraca.

In the early 20th century, satire and humor became a tool for Galician artists and writers to examine society and politics in their works. This derived from the previous Galician traditions of satire or  " retranca " (the uniquely Galician form of humor).

Graphic humor flourished during this decade. Vicente Risco, for instance, wrote satirical texts and created illustrations. He initially used the pseudonym "Polichinela" and published works like " O porco de pé " (The Standing Pig) before shifting to a more serious style later in his career. Even Otero Pedrayo, known for his formal writing style, identified humor in historical figures like Diego Xelmírez. This led to more attention to traditional oral humor, including puppetry. Barriga Verde's puppet shows, for example, presented humorous interactions between Galicians and the Portuguese, similar to Gabriel Feijóo's " Entremés famoso sobre a pesca do río Miño " from centuries earlier.

Galician artists also drew inspiration from Central European humor, especially from the German satirical magazine " Simplicissimus ." They integrated these influences into their illustrations and caricatures . Prominent figures in Galician graphic humor included Castelao and Luis Bagaría, the latter being Catalan by birth but closely connected to Galicia.

Some sculptures also featured elements of humor and satire. For example, Francisco Vázquez Díaz included satire and surrealism in his penguin sculptures, which were subject to censorship.

Surrealism influenced some Galician renovator artists. Maruxa Mallo, for example, had connections to prominent surrealists like André Breton and Federico García Lorca, and with Galician renovators such as Luis Seoane. Although she didn't live in Galicia, she often included Galician themes, such as the Atlantic coast, in her work. " Cuaderno de Bueu " (Bueu Notebook) is one example. When the Spanish Civil War began, Mallo escaped to Portugal and eventually relocated to Argentina and later New York.

Francisco Miguel, another artist affected by the war, was a muralist who worked with David Alfaro Siqueiros and personally knew Diego Rivera and Pablo Picasso. He also provided illustrations for works by Jorge Luis Borges and Gabriela Mistral. Miguel was killed in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War.

Urbano Lugrís, whose father was the Galician nationalist Lugrís Freire, was forced to side with the Francoist regime for survival. He painted marine-themed works with surrealist influences. Lugrís also designed sets and buildings, including the surrealist chapel of the Three Kings in Bueu.

The Granell brothers, especially Eugenio, pursued their artistic careers in exile, where they were associated with surrealism. Their Galician origins can be seen in their artwork despite their international experiences.

The Renovador Movement influenced the development of two distinct typographic fonts: Gallaecia Castelo (created by Carlos Núñez) and Vila Morena (created by Ipanema Gráfica). The Gallaecia Castelo font is arguably the most popular of the two. Named after the former Roman province of Gallaecia, it takes a lot of inspiration from folklore and the distant Celtic past , primarily based upon traditional typography found in stones. This classical element is combined with the modernistic ideals of the Bauhaus and Ulm schools, classic serif fonts and decorative elements like flourishes, spirals or dots. These fonts were often used in literature, journalism, and book cover arts. Nowadays, they continue to be popularly used in Galicia for decorative purposes and products, including commercial brands ( Sargadelos , Larsa , Pipas Galegas ) and local restaurants.

There are many buildings and landmarks in Galicia that have artistic contributions from Os Renovadores . A notable example would be the Afundación building in A Coruña, which now belongs to the ABANCA foundation.