When Altolaguirre took shelter in Paris at the end of the Civil War, he received a special gift from the art critic Christian Zervos: a small, ancient Greek statue of a horse. This statue, which accompanied the poet on his journey to exile in Latin America, was an object very dear to him. Perhaps because he came to see it as a symbol of the vicissitudes of his life, he decided that “The Greek Horse” should be the title of the memoirs that he began writing in Havana in1940 and would continue writing for the rest of his life.  It is fitting that this statue also has an important place in this homage.

Altolaguirre wrote one of his last poems for a special issue of the journal Papeles de Son Armadans dedicated to Pablo Picasso.
The poem appeared in April 1960. As the editor of the journal, Camilo José Cela, pointed out, it was a poem "full of intense insight and purpose." As a token of gratitude to his recently deceased friend, Picasso sent an offprint of the text with one of his drawings, full of life and color, to Paloma Altolaguirre. It was one of the first (of many) posthumous tributes that the poet received.

In the summer of 1960, Altolaguirre’s friends from Malaga, Estrada and Fernández-Canivell, editors of the journal Caracola, released a monographic issue dedicated to his memory. Fifty poets, critics and artists contributed to this issue, including Vicente Aleixandre, Gerardo Diego, Concha Méndez, José Bergamín, Jorge Guillén, Luis Cernuda, Emilio Prados, Juan Gil-Albert, Ramón Gaya, Juan Rejano, José Herrera Petere, Antonio Aparicio, Enrique Azcoaga, José María Souvirón, Carlos Rodríguez-Spiteri, and José Antonio Muñoz Rojas.

In Mexico, the publishing house Fondo de Cultura Economica, released an edition by Luis Cernuda of Altolaguirre’s Poesías completas (1960). The Mexican journal Nivel also dedicated a special issue to Altolaguirre in 1962. The exiled Basque María Dolores Arana was the editor of this issue, which included works by Luis Cernuda, Vicente Aleixandre, Camilo José Cela, José Bergamín, Jean Cassou, Emilio Prados, and many other friends and admirers of the poet.

During the forty-five years that have passed since his death, Altolaguirre has been slowly incorporated into the annals that catalogue and study his generation. His poems have been reprinted several times, and Hispanistas from various countries have studied his life and work. This exhibition, however, seeks to reveal how much still remains to be explored in these “islas invitadas” that are Manuel Altolaguirre’s world. Future generations, as always, will have the last word.