After his mother's death, Valen traveled to Rome and Paris during the 1920s, gaining much inspiration from the wealth of art and architecture there. His work became more controversial among many conservative critics, much to Valen's disappointment. In 1924 he returned to Oslo, and from 1927 to 1936 he worked as a musical archivist at the University of Oslo. In 1935 the government gave him a semi-permanent grant for composers. He quit teaching and moved back to Sunnhordland into the care of his sister and began to compose full-time.