Artistic activities and processes in Chile in the second half of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th were led by the state, which exercised, through a number of corporate entities, a clear, tutelary role in this field. The official line took shape through many of the decisions that were adopted, among them decisions relating to finance, purchases, scholarships, the hiring of artists and teachers, and the composition of the committees and juries of the art salons. In all of this, the state (government) expressed an ideology and sensibility that coincided with the social oligarchy that exercised power. This political and social class (the government and enlightened elite) displayed their voluntarism and authority in this area; in other words, their perception of the aesthetic phenomenon in relation to their ideological concepts and forms of expression was obstructed by functional needs and interests pertaining to their projects and visions of society and state.