Arte En España

RT...... A IN SPAIN MINISTERIO DE INDUSTRIA, TURISMO TURESPAÑA Y COMERCIO EUROPEAN COMMUNITY European Regional Development Fund I S p a i n Barcelona. Marès Museum. Romanesque carving i n M O S A A r t I C T A O R F A Taüll (Lleida). Church of Sant Climent the Moors, of the Mudejars... For reasons of history and temperament, they could not have emerged anywhere but Spain. An inherent vitality explains why Spanish Art is as diverse as it is, and why it has played a leading role in the history of world art as a whole. Spain has given the world some of its greatest universal masters, both past and present: creative giants such as Velázquez, Zurbarán and Take Spain’s geographic diversity and varied landscape, take its history of invasions, migrations, expansion, conquest, and what do you get? Art, with a capital A. Spanish Art was born of the ebb and flow of civilizations that has determined Spain’s history since antiquity. New cultures with new ideas have always met, clashed, intermingled and been transformed in the great melting pot that is Madrid. Centro de Arte Reina Sofía National Museum. Pablo R. Picasso: “Guernica” (1937) the Iberian peninsula. The result is a Barcelona. Marès Museum. Roman statue mosaic of styles, nuances, currents, colours and trends stretching over the Valencia. Marqués de Dos Aguas Palace Madrid. Prado Museum. Velázquez: “Las Meninas” centuries and comprising one of the Goya have been followed, in more world’s most enviable artistic heritages. modern times, by Gaudí, Picasso, Spanish artistic creativity has always been Miró, Dalí, and even more recently determined by the tension between what by world-ranked names including came from abroad and what already Tapiés, Barceló and many others. existed in Spain. To explore this wealth of creativity, Along with examples of each wave that to allow one’s gaze to wander across has swept over the Peninsula and given it the sweeping mosaic that is Spain, its its Celtic fortresses, Romanesque landscapes, and its art, is to embark monasteries, Gothic cathedrals and on a fantastic visual adventure. Renaissance palaces, one finds artistic expressions that originated in Spain and are quintessentially Spanish: the art of the prehistoric Iberians, of the Visigoths, of 2 3 CROSSROADS OF ANCIENT CULTURES HE first artists of Iberia gave us T mysterious and beautiful cave paintings. Later, peoples from distant lands arrived over the centuries to add their own contributions to the artistic heritage of Spain. Finally, the Roman Empire left its indelible stamp on Spanish culture and art. Coaña prehistoric settlement (Asturias) Santillana del Mar (Cantabria). Albarracín (Teruel). Rock shelter in Las Olivanas Altamira caves Paintings in caves, such as In the beginning, there was art Altamira, or in rock Antequera (Málaga). Menga dolmen shelters, such as In a time long forgotten a man created the birth certificate of Spanish art on Albarracín, signal the the ceiling of a cave in northern Spain. The genius responsible for the cave birth of art on the Iberian paintings of Altamira may have worn rough clothes and communicated with grunts, but the only thing that separates him from Pablo Picasso is Peninsula. They would be time –15,000 years of it. The paintings were discovered by accident when followed much later by a Spanish aristocrat and his young daughter were exploring the cave in Neolithic pottery, 1875. “Cows!”, the girl exclaimed when she saw the beautifully traced settlements, stone dolmens representations of bison. So perfect and so well preserved were the and funeral chambers. paintings that at first experts were reluctant to accept them as authentic. Many similar examples were subsequently discovered in northern Spain. Prehistoric art from a later date, in caves and rock shelters in eastern and southern Spain, are much different in character: schematic, almost abstract renditions of hunting scenes, accompanied by undecipherable symbols. As time progressed, prehistoric man left further samples of his skill, in prehistoric ceramic vases that can be seen in museums all over Spain. And from the Neolithic period, there are astounding megalithic constructions, such as the dolmens of La Menga and El Romeral in Antequera (Málaga), funeral chambers built, no one knows how, with massive stone slabs weighing many tons. Similar structures exist elsewhere in Andalusia, and in Catalonia, Aragon, Galicia, Extremadura and Álava. 4 5 Barros (Cantabria). Celtic stele was influenced by peoples who arrived by sea, and it achieved such sophistication that it still amazes the experts. For who can explain how a supposedly backward people could create such masterpieces as the Dama de Elche or the Dama de Baza, busts representing priestesses or goddesses, along with sculptures of fantastic Mahón (Menorca). Es Tudons funeral chamber animals, ingenious figurines and charms that can be seen in the National Archeological Museum in Madrid and in local museums such as the Alicante Museum, Elda Museum, Alcoy Museum or the Museum of Prehistory in Valencia? The Treasure of Carambolo and other vestiges displayed in the Archeological Museum of Seville are attributed to a mysterious civilization, the fabled kingdom of Tharsis or Tartessos, mentioned in Seville. Archeological Museum. The Treasure of Carambolo the Bible and believed to have flourished in the area 3,500 years ago. They came from the sea Since antiquity, Spain has attracted traders and invaders, who settled here and enriched Iberia’s growing artistic heritage. Phoenician merchants, Greeks colonists, Carthaginians all left traces. The Phoenicians, more interested in commerce and navigation, were not Pontevedra Museum. Gold collar essentially creators of art, but they were vital in spreading it among the lands they visited, which included the entire Mediterranean coastline. The most The dawn of civilization typical expression of their art are sculpted sarcophagi such as those discovered in one of their earliest colonies, Gadir (present-day Cádiz). Other Megalithic constructions were to become more complex colonies they established on Iberia’s coast were Ibusim (Ibiza), Sexi with the arrival of the Bronze Age. Menorca is so well (Almuñécar), and Abdera (Adra). endowed with examples of “talayots” (defensive towers), Adventurous Greeks followed in the wake of the Phoenicians, settling along “taulas” (a kind of altar) and “navetas” or funeral the Mediterranean coast, especially in the north. They established colonies in chambers such as Es Tudons that the entire island is an Rohdes (Roses) and, most notably, Emporion (Empuries), in Girona, where open air museum of prehistoric architecture. two Greek settlements share a site with a later Roman colony. By the Iron Age, what we can consider to be Iberian Art Little is left of the passing of the Carthaginians, heirs of the Phoenicians who had acquired a well-defined identity, though it varied in founded Cartago Nova (New Carthage) at Cartagena on the eastern coast. In character from one region to another. In the north the Spain, as in the main city of Carthage in northern Africa, their bitter enemies influence of the first great European civilization, the the Romans were especially thorough in wiping out any trace of the Celts, is seen in fortresses and settlements of Galicia, Carthaginians, although a few remnants survive, including several necropolis amongst whose ruins the exquisitely fashioned jewels on and reliefs such as that of Osuna. display in the Museum of Pontevedra were discovered. In the central regions of Spain, early artists created Madrid. Archeological Museum. The Dama de Elche sculptures of totemic animals, including the Bulls of During the so-called Iron Age the art Guisando (Ávila). The art of the Mediterranean coastline of Iberia began to take on a well-defined identity: in the north, Celtic culture left stone reliefs and stylized jewelry, while in the centre of Iberia there is an abundance of totemic animals, and to the south figures of deities and priestesses El Tiemblo (Ávila). Bulls of Guisando show the influence of peoples who arrived by sea. 6 Itálica (Seville). Roman mosaic The Roman legacy shows in every aspect of life in Iberia, from great bridges and aqueducts to small details like the tiles that decorated the floors of Roman homes, or the design of a simple doll. Segovia. Roman aqueduct The Empire builders Rome’s victory over Carthage was a quarries such as Las Medulas (Bierzo- major turning point. In Spanish art, as León) and El Medol (Tarragona). in its history, there is a before and an And once in a while they allowed after the Romans’ arrival. themselves the indulgence of building In a relatively short period, the land a triumphal arch, including those at Rome called Hispania was to be Bará (Tarragona), Medinaceli (Soria), transformed into one of the key and Cáparra (Cáceres). pieces in the Empire, birthplace of The cities they founded thrived long many prominent Romans, including after the Romans left, so much of the emperors Hadrian, Trajan and what they built lies buried under later Mérida (Badajoz). Milagros Roman Aqueduct Mérida (Badajoz). Museum of Roman Art Mérida (Badajoz). Museum of Roman Art Theodisius, or great thinkers and constructions. Even so, in colonies writers such as Seneca, Martial and like Barcino, Tarraco or Emerita The legacy of Rome Lucan. Augusta –today’s Barcelona, The Romans ruled Iberia for more Tarragona and Mérida– fine Despite the ravages of time, Spain is blessed items of everyday use: sculptures, reliefs, Tarragona. Bará Arch than six centuries, and their influence examples of Roman building share with many examples of well-preserved mosaics, vases, coins, weapons, utensils, on everything from law and language space with later architecture. Roman buildings. There are towers, walls jewels, furniture, and other objects that filled to art and agriculture is impressive. Strangely, it is in the ruins of isolated and fortifications, some as complete as the their cities and homes.

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