Antonio Machado, the Institucion Libre de Ensenanza and Spanish Krausism

Antonio Machado was a pupil at the Institucion
Libre de Enseffanza from 1883 to 1893. There he received
both a modern education unique in the Spain of that time
and exposure to the ideological influences of Krausism
and institucionismo. After examining the biographical
aspects of his contact with the school (chapter 1), I
investigate the nature and extent of its influence in
certain areas of thought: metaphysics (chapter 2),
ethics (chapter 3), art and nature (chapter 4), pedagogy
and culture (chapter 5) and politics (chapter 6).

My most important conclusions are as follows.
Machado did not adopt the metaphysics of Krausism,
though there are Krausist echoes in his treatment of
Time and Death. What he did acquire from the Krausists
was a view of Man and an ethics: an idealistic and
moralistic Christian humanism which determined his
beliefs and judgements on many questions. This humanism
is defined by an optimistic faith in the perfectibility
of the human spirit and an ideal of human fraternity.
Machado's belief in education through activity, dialogue
and "awakening" is both an expression of his view of Man
and typical of the pedagogy of the Institucion. His
vision of the artist's ethical responsibilities towards
his fellow men is typical of the humanist moralism of
Krausists and institucionistas.

The influence of the Institucion on Machado's art
is also seen in his definition of art as a synthesis of
the temporal and the essential, in certain images, in
his cultivation of simplicity of expression, in thematic
and stylistic elements of his treatment of Nature and
in his preference for historicist literary criticism.
In Machado's political thought the influence of the
Institucion is apparent above all in his affirmation
of the primacy of spiritual and ethical considerations
and in his evaluation of the importance of education
and culture as forces for national regeneration.