In 1963 Rubem Valentim arrived in England with his wife Lúcia Alencastro, a pioneer in art education in Brazil, who had been awarded a scholarship to attend Bath Academy of Art. However, Valentim spent little time in England and soon settled down in Rome, where he established an important dialogue with the art critic Giulio Carlo Argan.
In the Italian capital he continued his work with lines, colours and signs, now focusing his interest on the vertical overlapping of forms and the creation of totemic compositions. In this period Valentim was very influenced by religions of African origin, and tried to bring together images from the West and from Afro-Brazilian religions. This phase is characterised by the pursuit of symmetry, revealed in some works through the use of simplification and duplication of forms.
For about two years, Valentim created works that reaffirmed his relationship with art and religions from the African continent. During this period he was part of the Brazilian delegation that participated in the First World Festival of Black Arts, which took place in Dakar, Senegal, at the invitation of president Léopold Sédar Senghor in 1966. The event was promoted as a platform for affirming negritude as a cultural and political horizon.