ABSTRACT
The protesters considered the politics of the newly independent nation reactionary and, specifically, challenged Senegal’s neo-colonialist relationship to the former colonial metropolis. By confronting the conservatism that prevailed under Leopold Sedar Senghor presidency, the protesters facilitated the emergence of leftist sensibilities. In 1959, Senegal began to foster an environment conducive to intellectual, philosophical, economical, artistic and cultural reflections. Under President Senghor, who was elected just after Senegal gained independence in 1960, the country further developed its academic and cultural environment and pursued important initiatives. The position of Senegal under Senghor was enviable, as the conception of contemporary African art in Senegal was born with the Ecole de Dakar. The poetics that characterized the era of Senghor were replaced by violent clashes. Senghor had transgressed the frontiers of Senegal, of Africa, to unite the whole world. The evolution of the historical situation roughly traced here and its culminating point are, unsurprisingly, inscribed in an art historical logic.
