Fragment and Vision: Ultraism and the Iberian Avant-Garde Networks

This chapter explores the historical avant-garde in Spain, focusing on the Ultraist movement and its intersections with other experimental currents in the early 20th century. Ramón Gómez de la Serna emerges as a foundational figure whose greguerías and theoretical writings anticipated and influenced Spain’s engagement with avant-garde aesthetics, especially Futurism. His emphasis on metaphor, fragmentation, and visual experimentation provided a crucial bridge between the European avant-garde and the development of Ultraism. Ultraism, spearheaded by Guillermo de Torre, sought a radical renewal of poetic language by incorporating elements of Futurism, Cubism, and Dadaism while distancing itself from Modernismo’s rhetorical excess. The movement established a network of transatlantic exchanges, particularly with Latin American literary circles, where Vicente Huidobro’s Creationism played a key role. Huidobro’s vision of the poet as a demiurge who creates new realities through language resonated deeply with Ultraist principles. Alongside Creationism, Vibrationism emerged as an experimental visual-poetic form that redefined textual space and perception. Attention will be also devoted to the activities by the Ultraist group in Mallorca including the presence of young Jorge Luis Borges. By analyzing periodicals, manifestos, and poetic works, this chapter reconstructs the complex web of influences, collaborations, and tensions that defined Ultraism in Spain. It ultimately argues for a reevaluation of Ultraism as a dynamic and transnational avant-garde phenomenon that played a decisive role in the renewal of Iberian and Hispanic literary modernity and was instrumental in the diffusion and adaptation of avant-garde poetics in Latin America.