The Parallel Circulation of Portuguese Modern Art during Salazar's Dictatorship (1956-61)

Post-print version.Researching the subject of art's distribution under the New State dictatorship of the 1950s, this article focuses on the practices developed by two informal organizations of artists that carried out innovatory activities of modern art's socialization, which resulted in the creation of a parallel distribution system. Through an approach centred in the social and cultural aspects of the parallel distribution, the phenomenon's interpretation emphasizes the facilitating role of social relations and ethical values. Considering the exhibition and discursive practices developed by the artists’ collectives, this study defends that the existence of shared values and solidarity relationships, established within and outside the artistic sector, were deciding factors for the emergence and maintenance of a participatory behaviour attached to an important faction of the modern artistic sector