A group of intellectuals gathered around the young and progressive magazine L'Avenç, which advocated the modernisation of the Catalan language and its standardisation. The writers kept up with the most advanced trends of their time in their themes and the new aesthetic. Víctor Català, controversial because of her sex as well as her work, Joan Maragall, Josep M. Folch i Torres, Prudenci Bertrana, Santiago Rusiñol, Alexandre de Riquer and others were all drawn together, despite their social and political differences, by their rebellious urge and desire for individualism.