Cadaqués is a town in the
Alt EmpordàAlt Empordà is a comarca in Catalonia, Spain, one of two into which Empordà was divided by the comarcal division of Catalonia in 1936.- Municipalities :Populations are as of 2001.*Agullana - pop. 668*Albanyà - pop. 99*L'Armentera - pop. 742...
comarcaThis is a list of the comarques of Catalonia . A comarca is roughly equivalent to a US "county" or a UK "district". However, in the context of Catalonia, the term "county" can be a bit misleading, because in medieval Catalonia, the most important rulers were counts, notably the Counts of Barcelona...
, in the
province of GironaGirona is a province of north-eastern Spain, in the northern part of the autonomous community of Catalonia. It is bordered by the provinces of Barcelona and Lleida, and by France and the Mediterranean Sea....
,
CataloniaCatalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
,
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. It is on a
bayHeadlands and bays are two related features of the coastal environment.- Geology and geography :Headlands and bays are often found on the same coastline. A bay is surrounded by land on three sides, whereas a headland is surrounded by water on three sides. Headlands are characterized by high,...
in the middle of the
Cap de CreusCap de Creus is a peninsula and a headland located at the far NE of Catalonia, some 25 km south from the French border. The nearest town is Figueres, capital of the Alt Empordà and birthplace of Salvador Dalí...
peninsulaA peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland. In many Germanic and Celtic languages and also in Baltic, Slavic and Hungarian, peninsulas are called "half-islands"....
, near
Cap de CreusCap de Creus is a peninsula and a headland located at the far NE of Catalonia, some 25 km south from the French border. The nearest town is Figueres, capital of the Alt Empordà and birthplace of Salvador Dalí...
cape, on the
Costa BravaThe Costa Brava is a coastal region of northeastern Catalonia, Spain, in the comarques of Alt Empordà, Baix Empordà and Selva, in the province of Girona. Costa is the Catalan and Spanish word for 'coast', and Brava means 'rugged' or 'wild'...
of the Mediterranean. It is only a two-and-a-quarter hour drive from
BarcelonaBarcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, and thus it is very accessible and not only attracts tourists but people who want a second home for weekends and summers. In 2002, Cadaqués had an official population of 2,612, but up to ten times as many people can live in the town during the peak of the summer tourism season.
Cadaqués has a special place in art history. Commanding
charcoalCharcoal is the dark grey residue consisting of carbon, and any remaining ash, obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. Charcoal is usually produced by slow pyrolysis, the heating of wood or other substances in the absence of oxygen...
s, by local artist Mei Fren, of the 19th century Cadaqués beleaguered by a winter
TramontaneTramontane is a classical name for a northern wind. The exact form of the name and precise direction varies from country to country. The word came to English from Italian tramontana, which developed from Latin trānsmontānus , "beyond the mountains/across the mountains", referring to the alps in...
, can be seen at the Cadaqués museum. Fren was the first modern artist to live in Cadaqués and gave the town many of his works and a marble top table on which he sketched many of its turn-of-the-century fishermen.
Salvador DalíSalvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
often visited Cadaqués in his childhood, and later kept a home in
Port LligatPort Lligat or Portlligat is a small village located in a small bay on Cap de Creus peninsula, on the Costa Brava of the Mediterranean Sea, near the city of Cadaqués in the Alt Empordà comarca, in Girona province, Catalonia, Spain...
, a small village on a bay next to the town. A summer holiday here in 1916, spent with the family of
Ramon PichotRamon Pichot Gironès was a Catalan and Spanish artist. He painted in an impressionist style.He was a good friend of Pablo Picasso and an early mentor to young Salvador Dalí. Salvador Dalí met Ramon Pichot Gironès in Cadaqués, Spain when Salvador was only 10 years old. Ramon also made many trips...
is seen as especially important to Dalí's artistic career. Other notable artists, including
Pablo PicassoPablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
,
Joan MiróJoan Miró i Ferrà was a Spanish Catalan painter, sculptor, and ceramicist born in Barcelona.Earning international acclaim, his work has been interpreted as Surrealism, a sandbox for the subconscious mind, a re-creation of the childlike, and a manifestation of Catalan pride...
,
Marcel DuchampMarcel Duchamp was a French artist whose work is most often associated with the Dadaist and Surrealist movements. Considered by some to be one of the most important artists of the 20th century, Duchamp's output influenced the development of post-World War I Western art...
,
Antoni PitxotAntoni Pitxot is a Catalan Spanish painter who was a longtime friend and collaborator of Salvador Dalí.Pitxot was born into a family with many artists in its ranks, among them, his uncle Ramon Pichot...
, Henri-François Rey,
Melina MercouriMelina Mercouri , born as Maria Amalia Mercouri was a Greek actress, singer and politician.As an actress she made her film debut in Stella and met international success with her performances in Never on Sunday, Phaedra, Topkapi and Promise at Dawn...
and
Maurice BoitelMaurice Boitel Maurice Boitel Maurice Boitel (July 31, 1919 – August 11, 2007 in Audresselles (Pas-de-Calais), was a French painter.-Artistic life:Maurice Boitel belonged to the art movement called "La Jeune Peinture" ("Young Picture") of the School of Paris, with painters like Bernard Buffet, Yves...
also spent time here. Cadaqués is mentioned in the story
TramontanaTramontana or Tramontane can refer to:*Tramontane, a northern wind *the Pole Star*Tramontane, a science fiction novel by Emil Petaja...
by
Gabriel García MárquezGabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez is a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo throughout Latin America. He is considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in...
.
The interesting submarine life of this sleepy
fishingFishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
village was studied for several years by phycologist
Françoise ArdréFrançoise Ardré is a French phycologist and marine scientist; honoured as the namesake of the red alga known as Pterosiphonia ardreana....
, long before Cadaqués was discovered and transformed into a
tourismTourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
destination. On Mondays there is a travelling market in Cadaqués, located near the parking lot. This market has a wide variety of products.
Relationship with Cuba
In the early 20th century a large number of inhabitants of Cadaqués travelled
or emigrated to
CubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
(the figure has been estimated as one third of a village of
approximately 1200 people). Many of these immigrants were financially successful in
Cuba and returned to Cadaqués where they constructed large and ornate houses. These
houses can still be seen in the town (for example; the "Casa Blava", "Blue House" in English). A person returned
from Cuba was referred to as an "Americano" among other names.
People
- Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
stayed during the summer of 1910, was also a guest of the family Pitxot
- Joan Miró
Joan Miró i Ferrà was a Spanish Catalan painter, sculptor, and ceramicist born in Barcelona.Earning international acclaim, his work has been interpreted as Surrealism, a sandbox for the subconscious mind, a re-creation of the childlike, and a manifestation of Catalan pride...
- José Antonio Coderch
Josep Antoni Coderch i de Sentmenat was the most important post-World War II Catalan architect.-Early life and career:...
(1913–1984) prominent post-war Barcelona-born architect
- Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp was a French artist whose work is most often associated with the Dadaist and Surrealist movements. Considered by some to be one of the most important artists of the 20th century, Duchamp's output influenced the development of post-World War I Western art...
played chess in the cafe "Meliton" with John CageJohn Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
amongst others. According to Richard Hamilton, Duchamp regarded the local fishermen as strong chess players.
- Antoni Pitxot
Antoni Pitxot is a Catalan Spanish painter who was a longtime friend and collaborator of Salvador Dalí.Pitxot was born into a family with many artists in its ranks, among them, his uncle Ramon Pichot...
- René Magritte
René François Ghislain Magritte[p] was a Belgian surrealist artist. He became well known for a number of witty and thought-provoking images...
- Cyrus Frisch
Cyrus Frisch is a Dutch avant-garde filmmaker.Filmmaker Magazine called him the wild man of Dutch film. According to Holland Film Frisch is one of the most daring filmmakers currently working in Holland....
- Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
- Melina Mercouri
Melina Mercouri , born as Maria Amalia Mercouri was a Greek actress, singer and politician.As an actress she made her film debut in Stella and met international success with her performances in Never on Sunday, Phaedra, Topkapi and Promise at Dawn...
- Robert Venosa
Robert Venosa was an American artist residing in Boulder, Colorado, USA. He studied with what are termed the New Masters. His artworks reside in collections around the world. -Life and works:...
American visionary artist
- Maurice Boitel
Maurice Boitel Maurice Boitel Maurice Boitel (July 31, 1919 – August 11, 2007 in Audresselles (Pas-de-Calais), was a French painter.-Artistic life:Maurice Boitel belonged to the art movement called "La Jeune Peinture" ("Young Picture") of the School of Paris, with painters like Bernard Buffet, Yves...
- Eugeni d'Ors
Eugeni d’Ors i Rovira was a Catalan Spanish writer, essayist, journalist, philosopher and art critic...
Catalan writer, wrote the "Ben Plantada" (the "Good Looking Girl")
- Josep Pla
Josep Pla i Casadevall was a Catalan Spanish journalist and a popular author. As a journalist he worked in France, Italy, England, Germany and Russia, from where he wrote political and cultural chronicles in Catalan.His figure is somewhat controversial for present day Catalans...
Catalan writer, wrote a number of books set in or about Cadaqués. see below
- Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
built a house in Port lligat. Dalí's parents also had a house near the Platja LLane (the beach llane)
- Genia Chef
Genia Chef is a Russian artist living in Berlin, Germany. International Who's Who 2000 notes that before emigrating to the West in 1985 he was a member of Soviet Nonconformist Art circles in Moscow, a group that included, among others, Ilya Kabakov, Viktor Pivovarov, Anatoly Zverev and Semyon...
Russian artist. His Madonna de la Esparanza hangs in the town's baroque Iglesia de Santa Maria
- Federico García Lorca
Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He is believed to be one of thousands who were summarily shot by anti-communist death squads...
Spanish poet and dramatist
- André Breton
André Breton was a French writer and poet. He is known best as the founder of Surrealism. His writings include the first Surrealist Manifesto of 1924, in which he defined surrealism as "pure psychic automatism"....
French writer, poet, surrealist
- David Marti
David Martí is an actor and makeup specialist. He was one of 115 people invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2007.-External links:...
Catalan artist and writer
- Niki de Saint-Phalle French artist, was invited or came to visit Marcel Duchamp
- Man Ray
Man Ray , born Emmanuel Radnitzky, was an American artist who spent most of his career in Paris, France. Perhaps best described simply as a modernist, he was a significant contributor to both the Dada and Surrealist movements, although his ties to each were informal...
invited by Marcel Duchamp
- Mary Callery
Mary Callery was an American artist known for her Modern and Abstract Expressionist sculpture. She was part of the New York School art movement of the 1940s, '50s and '60s....
sculptor
- Dieter Roth
Dieter Roth was an Icelandic artist of Swiss German origin best known for his artist's books and for his sculptures and pictures made with rotting food stuffs. He was also known as Dieter Rot and Diter Rot....
artist
- Marcel Broodthaers
Marcel Broodthaers was a Belgian poet, filmmaker and artist with a highly literate and often witty approach to creating art works....
- Richard Hamilton (artist)
Richard William Hamilton, CH was a British painter and collage artist. His 1956 collage, Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing?, produced for the This Is Tomorrow exhibition of the Independent Group in London, is considered by critics and historians to be one of the...
English artist, invited by Marcel Duchamp
- John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
composer, invited by Duchamp with whom he played chess
- Jean Tinguely
Jean Tinguely was a Swiss painter and sculptor. He is best known for his sculptural machines or kinetic art, in the Dada tradition; known officially as metamechanics...
collaborator with Niki de Saint-Phalle
- James Mason
James Neville Mason was an English actor who attained stardom in both British and American films. Mason remained a powerful figure in the industry throughout his career and was nominated for three Academy Awards as well as three Golden Globes .- Early life :Mason was born in Huddersfield, in the...
actor, filmed near Cadaqués
- Pau Casals cellist, invited by the family Pitxot
- André Derain
André Derain was a French artist, painter, sculptor and co-founder of Fauvism with Henri Matisse.-Early years:...
painter, invited by the family Pitxot; painted the village in 1910
- Raoul Pugno
Stéphane Raoul Pugno was a French composer, teacher, organist, and pianist known for his playing of Mozart's works.Raoul Pugno was born in Paris. He made his debut at the age of six, and with the help of Prince Poniatowski he was then able to study at the École Niedermeyer. He then went to the...
- Jacint Morera
Morera, Jacint. was a painter, caricaturist, and muralist. He was a founding member of the First October Salon of Barcelona, 1948, at the Galeries Laietanes, along with Albert Ràfols Casamada, Antoni Tàpies, Francesc Todó, Pere Tort et al.In the Second October Salon in 1949 Morera was among four...
Catalan painter
- Maria Martins
Maria Martins is a French middle distance runner who specializes in the 1500 and 3000 metres.-Achievements:-Personal bests:*800 metres - 2:02.83 min *1500 metres - 4:04.55 min...
Brazilian surrealist sculptrice
- Damien Rice
Damien Rice is an Irish singer-songwriter, musician and record producer who plays guitar, piano, clarinet and percussion....
- Jordi Pagans i Monsalvatje
-Artistic Tradition:Jordi Pagans i Monsalvatje was born in El Masnou , April 18, 1932. Son of Alfred Pagans i Llauró and Clara Monsalvatje i Iglèsias, both coming from families of a long and rich artistic tradition which included members such as the guitar player and singer Llorenç Pagans i Julià ,...
Catalan painter
Language
The village of Cadaqués has its own variant or dialect of the
Catalan languageCatalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
. One of the most notable features is that the definite articles are different from standard Catalan, namely, they are "sa" (feminine) and "es" masculine instead of the normal Catalan definite articles "la" and "el". This feature is shared with the variant of Catalan spoken in the
Balearic IslandsThe Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.The four largest islands are: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain with Palma as the capital...
. The explanation for this (see "El Vocabulari de Cadaqués", Ernesta Sala i Bruses) is that when the Catalan ruler
Jaume IJames I the Conqueror was the King of Aragon, Count of Barcelona, and Lord of Montpellier from 1213 to 1276...
conquered the Balearic Islands in the Middle Ages he re-colonized the islands with people from the Empordà region of Catalonia. Because Cadaqués has remained relatively isolated from the surrounding region (owing to its geography), the mediaeval speech patterns have been preserved.
Another aspect of the speech variant of Cadaqués is the alteration of
the first person singular of certain verbs: conjugations that normally
end in "o" end in "i" in the Cadaqués variant. For example "a vegades agafi molt per Cala Nans" (informant was an approximately 90 year old fisherman). In standard Catalan this would be "a vegades agafo molt per Cala Nans" (meaning: sometimes I catch a lot at Cala Nans) The speech
variant of Catalan has most similarities with the Catalan spoken in
IbizaIbiza or Eivissa is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea 79 km off the coast of the city of Valencia in Spain. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, an autonomous community of Spain. With Formentera, it is one of the two Pine Islands or Pityuses. Its largest cities are Ibiza...
(Balearic Islands)
The Catalan variant of Cadaqués is referred to as "cadaquesenc" by the local people and also has many lexical items.
Examples include:
- rastell: a street (normally with a steep slope) which is formed with pieces of slate stone placed in a vertical position. These types of streets are very characteristic of the streets of Cadaqués.
- grop: a black rain cloud
- llagut: a small boat
- talaia: an elevated castle or look-out which could warn the village of danger or transmit other signals (example: approaching ships) - compare with the "talaiots" of Minorca
Min Orca or Menorca is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. It takes its name from being smaller than the nearby island of Majorca....
.
- xarxi: a (fishing) net, as opposed to "xarxa" in standard Catalan
- Norai: Is a stone cylindrical building with a large stone on the top that fishermans used to attach their boats.
Main sights
- Salvador Dalí House-Museum
- Church of St. Mary (17th century)
- Hermitage of Sant Sebastià, a large house located high on Pení Mountain behind Cadaqués. It is a private residence not open to the public. The hermitage is surrounded by cork trees, and is built on a steep slope.
- Natural Park of Cap de Creus.
Traditions
Women of the village traditionally fetched water using a glazed earthenware jug called a "doll". The colour of the glazing was green. Similar earthenware can still be seen used as decorations. A number of photos exist showing women carrying these "dolls" on their heads (covered with a protective cloth).
Owing to Cadaqués's proximity to the French border and its isolation by land, the village had a tradition of running contraband. See the writings of Josep Pla.
Geology
Cadaqués and the surrounding peninsula known as the Cap de Creus owes its beauty in part to its complex geology. The rocks here were mashed up when the Pyrenees (or Pirineus in Catalan) were formed, and are mostly metamorphic schists which turn a golden colour in the Mediterranean sun.
Add to that the weather: this is one of the wildest spots on the Costa Brava in the winter (Costa Brava means "wild coast"), so the migmatites and schists are battered and eroded by the Tramuntana wind which whips off the mountains and by a sea that appears as if it is boiling in the force 8 winds.
The Cadaqués migmatites formed under extreme pressure and temperatures: a partial melt. They are halfway between an igneous and metamorphic rock. The area also contains a lot of schist: a medium grade metamorphic rock that has been flattened into sheets. White blocks of pegmatite mark where molten rock was squeezed through the older metamorphics at the end of the orogeny or mountain building.
The Cap de Creus is a great place to study Structural Geology. The geological history has been exposed by erosion from wind and sea, and many geologists have mapped the area for this reason.
Chinese replica
In 2010, a Chinese developer, China Merchants Zhangzhou, announced its intention to build a near-exact copy of Cadaqués on more than 100 acre (0.404686 km²) of land on
Xiamen BayXiamen Bay is a partially enclosed bay off the coast of Xiamen, Fujian province, China and surrounded by Jinmen islands and open waters.- Geography :The bay is formed by down-faulted depressed block of undersea bed creating a submerged bay....
in China. The replica village is projected to house some 15,000 Chinese holidaymakers. Building is reported to begin in September or October 2010.
Sources
- Galeria Cadaqués, obres de la collecció Bombelli ISBN 84-89771-31-6 (MACBA 2006) in Catalan
- El Cadaqués de Peter Harnden i Lanfronco Bombelli ISBN 84-88258-75-5, Col·legi d'Arquitectes de Cataluyna
- El Vocabulari de Cadaqués ISBN 84-87265-60-X, Ernesta sala, Parsifal Edicions, written in Catalan
- Cadaqués Josep Pla ISBN 84-261-0701-X. This book is available in Catalan and Spanish.
- Contraband Josep Pla: about experiences Pla had in running small time contraband from Cadaqués
External links