This is a speech on private art collections given by Orestes Baroffio, the president of the Municipal Commission of Culture of Montevideo in 1944, on the occasion of the opening of the Salón de Arte Extranjero, held at the exhibition center, Subterráneo Municipal de Exposiciones in Montevideo. Baroffio highlighted the collaboration of those social sectors in possession of European works of art, therefore supporting the initiative of presenting international exhibitions to the public for their educational and pedagogical content. He ends his speech by considering the devastating situation on the European continent, the consequence of fascist totalitarianism.

In 1944, during the opening of the international exhibition Salón de Arte Extranjero at the exhibition center, Subterráneo Municipal de Montevideo (located on Agraciada Street and 18 de Julio Avenue), a speech was given by the president of the Municipal Commission of Culture of Montevideo and the artist Orestes Baroffio (1879−1963). The speech peculiarly highlighted artwork that was held in private collections, identifying and exalting the first private collectors of the country. Throughout the discourse he emphasized and reiterated the pedagogical and educational importance the exhibition would exert; however, very little was mentioned about the art that was exhibited, such as work by the Spanish artist Laureano Barrau (1863−1957), the Italian artist Antonio Mancini (1852−1930), and the work by Giorgio de Chirico (1888−1978). The Salón Nacional de Bellas Artes was inaugurated in 1937, and the author compared the occasion to a flight around the world with the possibility of comparing several schools of art, underlining the fact that they were examples of great works whose value was inaccessible to most as it was entirely of European origin. This was a time when artists were being regrouped in associations and organizations that were independent in character and were critical to any official artistic negotiations. Therefore, Baroffio’s speech seemed to reinforce a policy stance that was traditional, culturally paternalistic, and integrative of governmental agencies spurred by the idea of harmony and in accord with various social sectors. As an ongoing reminder throughout volumes of the magazine, there was mention of World War II, the Liberation of Paris (August 25, 1944), and an anti-fascist stance by the writers. For Baroffio, the exhibition consisted of works of distinction and excellence in the visual arts created in an atmosphere of European respect and admiration, an idealized territory in Uruguay that is now sadly being torched by fascist “totalitarian forces.” This type of exhibition not only allowed a collaborative incentive between state agencies, cultural sectors, and private art collectors, it also promoted the recovery and a direct perception (albeit fragmentary) of European art, at a time when artistic travel and the exchange of information between the two continents was impeded by circumstance.