In 1919, Josep Puig i Cadafalch, the new president of the Mancomunitat, cancelled the decoration Saló de Sant Jordi in the old Palau de la Generalitat. Torres-García decided to visit the United States for a couple of years. "he determined to take the pulse of the greatest and most modern of cities, New York." "Despite being one of the most important artists of the moment, Torres García did not lull, and in 1920 he went to New York to continue exploring what they called modernity, and began to cling to the ephemeral and temporal, what he drew in the city of skyscrapers connects with what John Dos Passos reflected in Manhattan Transfer."