When the MNBA was inaugurated in 1910 in commemoration of the bicentennial of the independence of Chile (1810-1910), several countries (Germany, Austria, Belgium, Spain, Holland, Italy, Portugal, England, Switzerland, Argentina, Brazil, United States and Uruguay) were invited to participate in the exhibition and opening of the building. Some of the exhibited artwork was acquired by the government of Chile. A century later, these same countries were invited for an exhibition organized around a common topic: human displacement in the past and present.