About the Work: Uruguayan artist and father of the modern abstract art movement Universal Contructivism, Joaquín Torres-García, moved to Barcelona, Spain, with his parents at the age of 17, and did not to return to Uruguay until the age of 60 in 1934. Upon his return, Torres-García established the School of the South and the movement of Universal Constructivism. The movement’s manifesto stated that if nature followed a certain order, then it was possible to visualize the unifying laws that rule the cosmos. Torres-García was also seeking to formulate a new artistic language for the Americas that integrated various elements from pre-Hispanic art, Cubism and Surrealism. Torres-García and his students created works of art filled with geometric forms (circles, squares and triangles) as well as material and emotional symbols (hearts, boats, clocks, etc.) that have had a long lasting impact on the aesthetic identity of the Southern Cone countries.