This article assists the reader, in understanding the Uruguayan writer Vicente Basso Maglio’s (1889–1961) essentialist thoughts on creation specifically relating to human activity and its vast derivations and origins. He felt that “actual” creation consisted of a process that produced pain that in its entirety challenged the human being and thus the reason it was qualified as “tragic.” It is understandable that his article contained ample associations that were mystical in character or even metaphysical as the Uruguayan poet spent a part of his life dedicated to the cultural activity in his community and in the local environment. Additionally, his impervious work gave him the ability to intervene as a journalist in various publications and in broadcasting, where he could maintain a dialogue with an imaginary interviewer declaring his convictions on “artistic creation” from the perspective of redemptive acts with tragic fringes. One can assume that the artistic concept is receptive to the legacy of nineteenth-century Romanticism. However, it can also be linked to twentieth century existentialist philosophy. The text also mentions several examples associated to searches that were transcendent and tragic in nature throughout the history of art, situating them with the aesthetic explorations carried out in the first three decades of the century by Rafael Barradas.
[For further reading on the Uruguayan artist, please refer to the ICAA digital archive and the following texts: “Barradas” (doc. no. 1243461) and “Barradas el uruguayo” (doc. no. 1197352) written byManuel Abril, “Barradas pintor de eternidad” by Artur Perucho (doc. no. 1243392), “Carta a Rafael Barradas” by Alberto Lasplaces (doc. no. 1250919), “Rafael Barradas” by Vicente Basso Maglio (doc. no. 1243440), “Emoción ante Barradas” by Cipriano Santiago Vitureira (doc. no. 1218884), “Los artistas uruguayos en Europa: Rafael Barradas” by Joaquín Torres García (doc. no. 1228429), “El pintor Juan Carlos Figari Castro” by Jorge Páez Vilaró (doc. no. 1228547) and “En torno a Barradas” by Clotilde Luisi (doc. no. 1227809)].