Favourite Work

My Spanish

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THE CITY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES Santiago Calatrava

Its location is excellent, a privileged place: the old Turia’s riverbed, a completely

open area. It is an interesting cultural leisure offer that turns this architectural

work into a center for culture and leisure. This impressive architecture work

becomes a place to learn and have fun in a participative way.

In this project we highlight The Sciences Museum because it is an instrument for

education that through varied activities reactivates the critical capacity of its

visitors and informs about the evolution of life and technological and scientific

developments in a didactic and interactive way. This museum supports the

different schools in their educational activities and that keeps it alive.

We also highlight the L'Umbracle Promenade, where nature, the sky and the water

form an architectural whole of great beauty.

In our opinion, this architectural work is a landscape and monument symbol for the

city of Valencia.

Made up of: L'Hemisfèric, The

Sciences Museum, L'Umbracle, The

Oceanographic, The Bridge of l'Assut

de l'Or and The Ágora.

Its construction began with a neo-gothic style but when Gaudí took on the project, its

style was completely changed. As he usually worked, from general outlines of the

building, he improvised its construction as the work moved forward. He took on the

project with the young age of 31 and he devoted the rest of his life to it.

One of his most innovative ideas was the design of the high round conical towers whose

peaks stick out above the portals being narrower at their highest point. He designed

them with a parabolic torsion giving the whole facade an upward tendency with many

windows that perforate the tower in spiral shape.

Gaudí died in 1926; only one tower had been built. From the project of the building

there were only some plans and a plaster model quite damaged during the Spanish Civil

War.

The church was consecrated and acknowledged as minor basilica on the 7th of

November 2010 by the Pope Benedicto XVI.

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THE SAGRADA FAMILIA Antonio Gaudí

The Expiatory Church of the Holy Family, known as

The Sagrada Familia, is a large catholic basilica of

Barcelona, designed by the Spanish architect

Antoni Gaudí. Its construction began in 1882 and it

is ongoing. It is the masterpiece of Gaudí and the

greatest exponent of Catalonian modernist

architecture.

This is the visible part of the work that I chose but I am very interested in the

determined performance of this rationalist architect, with numerous buildings with a

rationalist style in the city. In my opinion, this work and the other ones reflect that his

artistic career was braked by the end of the Civil War. Due to his large academic

education he adapted to the imposed academicist and neo-imperialist criteria (Town

Hall’s Square), but everytime he could, as in this work, he followed his convictions of

modernity. From the 50’s his few turns to modernity where accepted given his artistic

relevance and a slight political openness. Later on, during the 60’s, when the country

wanted to be seen as immersed in a period of modernity and development, this

architect was able to create excellent works of rationalist modernism.

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MUSIC BANDSTAND Miguel López González

This small bandstand built in 1954 and designed

by the architect from Alicante Miguel López, is

located in the Alicante’s Promenade.

Technically it is a construction made of

reinforced concrete that gives a slender

appearance, without columns, to a modern

design. Aesthetics and acoustic properties

achieve perfect harmony with the

environment.

It is made up of a series of practical disciplines:

BALLET

To have a complete education as a dancer in any discipline

it is necessary to study ballet to adquire the essential

techniques.

CASTANETS

As ultimate Spanish cultural patrimony, castanets

represent a very important part of the Spanish music and

dance.

CLASSICAL SPANISH

It is the most sophisticated way of dance with music styles

like Falla, Albéniz, Granados, Turína. His aesthetics remind

us the flamenco dance and folklore. BOLERA’S SCHOOL

It studies the Spanish dance of the 18th century. Known as “Goyescas”, it is danced with

costumes of the time of the painter Goya.

FLAMENCO

It is the most famous Spanish dance, the most universal given its wide spreading.

FOLKLORE

Spain is one of the richest countries in Folklore variety. Every region has its typical

dances with centuries of antiquity, a real regional cultural expression.

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S P A N I S H D A N C E

White Darkness is a choreography that fascinates and produces

the same impression during the years. It might be one of the

masterpieces of Nacho Duato and it is essential in his wide

creative repertoire. It has become richer with the time that has

transformed it into a classic; a perfect combination of light and

shadow.

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WHITE DARKNESS Nacho Duato

The inspiration of his creator was an open meditation about the world of drugs. It is not a

“judgement of values” but an invitation to think about a present, harmful and many times

controversial subject. It is about the effect that drugs may cause in our social behaviour, our

ability to communicate with others and in our lives in general. On the stage, the

choreographer shows how drugs dominate the drug addicts to the point that they become a

puppet, a marionette that under its influence narrows their universe to the extreme. All

this, expressed through dance, mostly in couples, becomes “pure poetry in movement”.

It tells a story in which the public is able to understand the initial emotional unbalance of

the main character who seeks a way out in a love relationship with a person that will lead

her to disaster. This person becomes a Prince of Darkness; owner and lord of a particular

world through the white dust. Likewise, the adequate use of plastic elements to visualize

drugs through the rain of this substance makes a contrast with the black color of the stage

and gives sense to the title: White Darkness.

One of the most beautiful

sculptures of Eusebio

Sempere is Estrella, although it

is also known with the name of

Estrella varada (Rod Star),

located in the city of Alicante.

He uses a regular

dodecahedron from which

chroming steel rods of 3cm

diameter come out. The rods of

the superior part are longer.

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E S T R E L L A (S T A R) Eusebio Sempere

The rods gather in a revolving axis that coincides with one of the

rotation axis of the dodecahedron that unites two opposed faces.

The sculpture was made in chroming steel in 1978.

I have chosen this work because the composer received with it

his first award and that was what motivated him to devote

himself completely to music and to continue obtaining success

and become a renowned composer.

In 1903, with the age of 17, Óscar Esplá studied in Barcelona

Industrial Engineering and also Arts, receiving harmony lessons

from Sánchez Gavagan, who was then in 1904 director of the Music Conservatory of the Institute of Barcelona.

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SUITE LEVANTINA Óscar Esplá

During his period of education as engineer he composed his famous Suite in A flat, he

presented it to the International Contest of the National Gesellschaft “Die Musik” of

Vienna and won the First Award, triumphing over numerous European scores and

receiving 3.000 marks; Richard Strauss and Camille Saint-Saëns were members of the

jury. Due to this success of great importance for Spain and as an iniciative of Gabriel

Miró –“his spiritual brother” who would name him Walter Starkie– the Town Hall of

Alicante embraced the musician honoring him with celebrations on the 29th of January

1911. Then, just about to finish his studies of Engineering, he decided to devote

himself completely to music because “music was stronger in me that the other two

studies”, words of the musician.

ASDF

In this work he paints his wife, Clotilde Garcia, holding a lady’s umbrella and his older daughter,

Maria Clotilde having a walk by the beach of Valencia at sunset, with the sea breeze moving their

filmy dresses in a concept of movement that has a lot to do with the pararell position of the two

women and the movement in the air of the gauzes, the lady’s umbrella and the water of the sea.

The contrast of colours make the rest and achieve a luminosity effect that gathers the elegance

of the scene with an unquestionable visual impact.

In the painting’s composition he eliminates the horizon line and creates water and sand through

long blue, mauve and turquoise-green brushstrokes. The breeze that can be noticed in the waves

of the dresses and their gauze adornments intensifies the feeling of momentary brevity of the

image. The “photographic framing” also contributes to this feeling with the frame cutting one of

the figure’s picture hat.

As to its stylistic classification, due to its loose brushstrokes, its light, colour and the movement

that it transmits, most of the authors classify it in the Spanish Post-impresionism.

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PASEO A ORILLAS DEL MAR (A WALK BY THE SEASHORE) Joaquín Sorolla

Paseo a orillas del mar, also known as Paseo por la playa (A walk by

the beach), painted in 1909, is one of the most famous paintings of

the Valencian painter Joaquín Sorolla. He created this work in a

moment of vital fulfillment and professional success, after having

had success in the United States. Maybe that is why during this

period there are many images like this one, serene but also lively,

reflecting great light and colour.

In this enigmatic work the painter shows his desire to experiment with

different degrees of the image’s termination.

Gala’s countenance, perfectly painted, stands out over the white background,

but this realistic representation it’s also full of symbolism: tree branches grow

from Gala’s head which refers to Apollo and Daphne’s myth.

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COMIENZO AUTOMÁTICO DE UN RETRATO DE GALA

(Automatic beginning of a Gala’s portrait) Salvador Dalí

Gala was Dalí’s partner and wife but, above all

things, she was his muse. Few women have

been represented so many times.

Among all the portraits that Dalí painted to the

one and only woman of his life, Comienzo

automático de un retrato de Gala really

attracts my attention.

I had the chance to see this painting in a temporary exhibition in

Sevilla and the natural manner of the scene where two children enjoy

an improvised feast had an impact on me.

Dos niños comiendo melón y uvas represents a scene of Sevilla

affected by the economic crisis and the plague during the middle of

the 17th century. In the image you can see two children, dirty and

clothed in rags, eating fruit that they had to steal to have something

to eat.

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DOS NIÑOS COMIENDO MELÓN Y UVAS

(Two children eating melon and grapes) Bartolomé Esteban Murillo

Few colours have been used in this picture but they have been combined with

inteligence. The contrast between black and white is reduced with the range of greens

and ochers. The loose brushstroke gives to the painting a soft plasticity, typical of the

school of Venice. It is a genre painting but also a still life painting. It is a genre painting

because it represents two typical children of Sevilla during that time. It is a still life

painting because fruit plays a main role in it. Murillo used it as an excuse to show his

refined technique, as can be seen in the grapes’ shine and transparency, and his

observation of every detail, as can be appreciated in the two flies that landed on the

melon held by the child on the right side and on the fruit waste on the floor.

Dos niños comiendo melón y uvas is one of the most relevant paintings of Murillo

because it helped him to carry out a series of paintings about childhood in poverty,

which he always represented with respect.

I discovered this writer from Alicante by

reading this book. Its pages full with intense

adventures seeking the Vera Cruz, the cross

where Jesus died, captivated me.

This work, pioneer in its genre, gathers the

interest for religions, relics, secret societies

and universal literature’s works, such as The

Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri, that has

always been alive. A paleographer of the

Vatican Secret Archive, an archaeologist of

Alexandria and a captain of the Swiss Guard

will go through seven proofs, based in the

seven capital sins, that will put their lives in

danger and will make them discover secrets

hidden in Rome, Ravenna, Jerusalem,

Athens, Istanbul, Alexandria and Antioch.

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E L Ú L T I M O C A T Ó N (The Last Caton) Matilde Asensi

“El viaje a ninguna parte” of Fernando

Fernán Gómez is one of his best novels that

would later on be adapted into a great

movie which he directed, whose script he

wrote and in which he also interpreted one

of the main characters himself.

The movie shows the terrible and at the

same time wonderful life of comedians in

the middle of the last century. Human

poverty in all its facets, hunger, those

journeys acting in towns poorer than

themselves and with characters that reflect

all different tragedies of a man’s life.

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E L V I A J E A N I N G U N A P A R T E

(Voyage to Nowhere) Fernando Fernán Gómez

All this mixed with irony, sarcasm, criticizing everything but with great

sense of humor, leaves the bitter aftertaste of a well-done work at the end

of the book or the movie.

He isolates and gets

things out of order, he

confronts and

manipulates until he gets

to show a new order, a

hidden facet of the sense,

a new symbolic truth that

results from the impact

caused by the disorder of

our logic.

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CHEMA MADOZ

All his works contain great creativity, that’s why it is very difficult to

choose one of them but I have chosen photography for its simplicity. He

comes out with the idea of placing a cage before a simple cloud in the

sky and so he creates a work of art that everyone can understand.

That’s how almost all his works are.

It is made up of photographies

from different origins that are

reconstructed with images

obtained by a freeware photo-

mosaic program connected on line

with the search engine Google and

an interactive digital video

installation. With this series of

images he brings together

photographic images, digital

photography and the new

technologies. Through the main

image made up of many small

images gathered as a mosaic, the

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artist plays with the observer placing in his mind a fine line that separates what is real from

fiction, what is true and false, certainty and chance.

Undoubtedly, what disturbs the most in Fontcuberta’s work is the emphatic presence of his works

through images that are very easy to recognize and the background of their meaning. What we

think we see or understand just by looking it’s only an illusion of what is hidden and can only be

discovered when you draw closer and deepen in the work. As it’s usual in his work, the observer’s

perceptive process becomes the object of the artist’s illusory conspiracies.

GOOGLEGRAMS Joan Fontcuberta

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M O R T A D E L O AND F I L E M Ó N Francisco Ibáñez

M O R T A D E L O

He is the soul of

the two secret

agents. He has an

innate ability to

dress up and also to get in

trouble. He is always arguing

with his boss or playing jokes

on him. However, most of the

times it is him who comes up

with a crazy strategy to solve

the cases that the “Súper”

assigns them.

F I L E M Ó N

Theoretically he is the brain

of the two. He is Mortadelo’s

boss and partner. They do

almost everything together and

they understand each other very well.

Most of the times Filemón is to blame for

Mortadelo’s blunders and that’s when he

really flies into temper. But they are

inseparable friends after all.

E L S Ú P E R

He is the boss of Mortadelo and Filemón and the superintendent

of the “T.I.A”. He contacts the agents in the most ingenious ways

to assign them all sorts of missions. He has a foul mood when he

gets angry.

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ART &

LITERATURE

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Favourite Work

My Spanish