ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the itinerary of the Belgian avant-garde artists after their departure from home in the interwar period. Specific journeys of the Belgian avant-garde abroad — the Heimat left behind — will be used as case-studies to show its encounter with modernity and the different answers formulated to cope with the new challenges. It explores the road stories of the avant-garde presuppose that the movements and the settings of the avant-garde happenings are worth a closer look. The avant-garde can be considered as a social occurrence in which counterculture was formed. The travel itinerary of the first Belgian avant-garde artist was impressive. The 'mythical ex-patriot' Jules Schmalzigaug traveled through Germany, The Netherlands, France and Italy. In Belgium, however, the war created a generation of avant-garde artists. The tabula rasa of the First World War seemed to open up new possibilities and to shake the self-satisfied art world.
