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...
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
Girona provinceGirona 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 northeast Spain. The capital city is Barcelona.Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an official population of 7,364,078. It borders France and Andorra to the north, Aragon to the west, the Valencian Community to the south, and the...
,
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
. It is on a
bayHeadlands and bays are two related features of the coastal environment.- Geology and geography :Headlands and bays are often found together on the same stretch of coastline. A bay is surrounded by land on three sides, whereas a headland is surrounded by water on three sides. Headlands are...
near the
Cap de CreusCap de Creus is 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 nearly surrounded by water but connected to mainland via an isthmus. Word origin: Latin paenīnsula : paene, almost + īnsula, island.A peninsula can also be a headland, cape, island promontory, bill, point, or spit....
, on the
Costa BravaThe Costa Brava is a coastal region of northeastern Catalonia, Spain, in the comarques of Alt Empordà, Baix Empordà and La Selva, in the province of Girona. Costa is the Catalan and Spanish word for 'coast', and Brava means 'rugged' or 'wild'...
of the
Mediterranean SeaThe Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by the Levant. The sea is technically a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it...
. It is only a two-and-a-half hour drive from
BarcelonaBarcelona is the capital, most populous city of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia and the second largest city in Spain, with a population of 1,615,908 in 2008. It is the 11th-most populous municipality in the European Union and sixth-most populous urban area in the European Union after Paris,...
, therefore 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.
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...
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
Girona provinceGirona 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 northeast Spain. The capital city is Barcelona.Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an official population of 7,364,078. It borders France and Andorra to the north, Aragon to the west, the Valencian Community to the south, and the...
,
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
. It is on a
bayHeadlands and bays are two related features of the coastal environment.- Geology and geography :Headlands and bays are often found together on the same stretch of coastline. A bay is surrounded by land on three sides, whereas a headland is surrounded by water on three sides. Headlands are...
near the
Cap de CreusCap de Creus is 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 nearly surrounded by water but connected to mainland via an isthmus. Word origin: Latin paenīnsula : paene, almost + īnsula, island.A peninsula can also be a headland, cape, island promontory, bill, point, or spit....
, on the
Costa BravaThe Costa Brava is a coastal region of northeastern Catalonia, Spain, in the comarques of Alt Empordà, Baix Empordà and La Selva, in the province of Girona. Costa is the Catalan and Spanish word for 'coast', and Brava means 'rugged' or 'wild'...
of the
Mediterranean SeaThe Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by the Levant. The sea is technically a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it...
. It is only a two-and-a-half hour drive from
BarcelonaBarcelona is the capital, most populous city of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia and the second largest city in Spain, with a population of 1,615,908 in 2008. It is the 11th-most populous municipality in the European Union and sixth-most populous urban area in the European Union after Paris,...
, therefore 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 blackish residue consisting of impure carbon obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. Charcoal is usually produced by slow pyrolysis, the heating of wood, sugar, bone char, or other substances in the absence of oxygen...
s, by local artist Mei Fren, of the 19th century Cadaqués beleaguered by a winter tramontanain, 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 Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, 1st Marquis of Púbol was a Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres....
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 to...
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 was a Spanish painter, draughtsman, and sculptor. Commonly known simply as Picasso, he is one of the most recognized figures in 20th-century art...
,
Joan MiróJoan Miró i Ferrà was a Spanish Catalan painter, sculptor, and ceramist 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. Duchamp's output influenced the development of post-World War I Western art...
,
Antoni PitxotAntoni Pitxot, or Antonio Pichot Soler in Castilian, also Antonio Pitxot, is a Catalan and Spanish painter who was a longtime friend and collaborator of Salvador Dalí....
, Henri-François Rey,
Melina MercouriMelina Mercouri , born Maria Amalia Mercouri , was a Greek actress, singer and politician. She is considered one of the greatest female figures of modern era in Greece, being an actress of international fame and a politician who left her mark on Greek culture.As an actress she made her film debut...
and
Maurice BoitelMaurice Boitel , 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 Brayer, Louis Vuillermoz, Pierre-Henry, Daniel du Janerand, Gaston Sébire, Paul Collomb, Jean...
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*a short story by Gabriel García Márquez, in Strange Pilgrims...
by
Gabriel García MárquezGabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez is a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist. García Márquez, affectionately known as "Gabo" throughout Latin America, is considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. In 1982, he was awarded the Nobel...
.
The interesting submarine life of this sleepy
fishingFishing is the activity of catching 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 psychologist
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 who "travel to and stay in places outside their usual environment for more than twenty-four hours and not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other...
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 country in the Caribbean. It consists of the 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. Cuba is home to over 11 million people and is...
(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.
Notable visitors and residents
- Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso was a Spanish painter, draughtsman, and sculptor. Commonly known simply as Picasso, he is one of the most recognized figures in 20th-century art...
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 ceramist 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 Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp was a French artist whose work is most often associated with the Dadaist and Surrealist movements. 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, philosopher, poet, music theorist, artist, printmaker, and amateur mycologist and mushroom collector. A pioneer of chance music, electronic music and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war...
amongst others. According to Richard Hamilton, Duchamp regarded the local fishermen as strong chess players.
- Antoni Pitxot
Antoni Pitxot, or Antonio Pichot Soler in Castilian, also Antonio Pitxot, is a Catalan and Spanish painter who was a longtime friend and collaborator of Salvador Dalí....
- Martina Hoffmann German visionary artist
- Henri-François Rey
- Melina Mercouri
Melina Mercouri , born Maria Amalia Mercouri , was a Greek actress, singer and politician. She is considered one of the greatest female figures of modern era in Greece, being an actress of international fame and a politician who left her mark on Greek culture.As an actress she made her film debut...
- Robert Venosa
Robert Venosa is an American artist living in Boulder, Colorado, USA. He studied with what are termed the New Masters. His artworks reside in collections over the world.-Life and works:...
American visionary artist
- Maurice Boitel
Maurice Boitel , 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 Brayer, Louis Vuillermoz, Pierre-Henry, Daniel du Janerand, Gaston Sébire, Paul Collomb, Jean...
- Eugeni d'Ors
Eugeni d’Ors i Rovira was a Spanish Catalan writer, essayist, journalist, philosopher and art critic. He wrote in both Spanish and Catalan, sometimes under the pseudonym of Xènius...
Catalan writer, wrote the "Ben Plantada" (the "good looking girl"?)
- Josep Pla
Josep Pla i Casadevall was a Spanish Catalan 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...
Catalan writer, wrote a number of books set in or about Cadaqués. see below
- Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, 1st Marquis of Púbol was a Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres....
built a house in Port lligat. Dalí's parents also had a house near the Platja LLane (the beach llane)
- Victor Rahola
- 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
- Takiguchi Shuzo invited by Duchamp
- Peter Harnden architect, worked with Bombelli
- Lanfranco Bombelli architect, designer of many houses in Cadaqués, and founder-owner of The Cadaqués Art Gallery (1973-1997).
- 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 a Swiss-German artist best known for his artist's books and for his sculptures and pictures made with rotting food stuffs...
artist
- Marcel Broodthaers
Marcel Broodthaers was a Belgian poet, filmmaker and artist with a highly literate and often witty approach to creating art works....
- Joan Vehi carpenter and photographer. Joan Vehi has taken may photographs of Cadaqués over a number of years
- Barbara Curtis ex-owner of an art gallery in Cadaqués
- Richard Hamilton (artist)
Richard Hamilton, CH is an English painter and collage artist. His 1956 collage titled 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, philosopher, poet, music theorist, artist, printmaker, and amateur mycologist and mushroom collector. A pioneer of chance music, electronic music and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war...
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
- Mary Renolds visited in the 1930s
- James Mason
James Neville Mason was a British actor who attained stardom in both British and American films. Throughout his career, Mason remained a powerful figure in the industry and he is now regarded as one of the finest film actors of the 20th century...
actor, filmed near Cadaqués
- Pau Casals cellist, invited by the family Pitxot
- Andre Derain
André Derain was a French painter and co-founder of Fauvism with Henri Matisse.- Biography :Derain was born in 1880 in Chatou, Yvelines, Île-de-France, just outside Paris. In 1898, while studying to be an engineer at the Académie Camillo, he attended painting classes under Eugène Carrière, and...
painter, invited by the family Pitxot; painted the village in 1910
- Raoul Pugno
Stéphane Raoul Pugno was a French composer, teacher, organist, and pianist renowned world-wide for his playing of Mozart’s works....
- Jordi Roch i Bosch founded the International Music Festival of Cadaqués
- 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 *3000 metres - 9:00.71 min...
Brazilian surealist sculptrice
- Damien Rice
Damien Rice is an Irish singer/songwriter and musician. As a musician he plays the guitar, cello, violin, piano and drums.
...
- 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
- Lorenzo T.Maffei Photographer
- Antonio Muntadas Media Artist
- Genco Gulan is working on a project called Cadaqués though he has never been to the town.
Language
The village of Cadaqués has its own variant or dialect of the
Catalan languageCatalan is a Romance language, the national and official language of Andorra, and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of the Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencià , as well as in the city of Alghero on the Italian island of...
. 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 in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula....
. 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 is an island in the Mediterranean Sea 79 km off the coast of the city of Valencia in Iberian Peninsula 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...
(Balearic Islands)
The Catalan variant of Cadaqués is referred to as "cadaquesenc" by the local people and also has many lexical items.
Examples:
- 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
Minorca 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.
Hermitage of Sant Sebastià
The hermitage of Sant Sebastià is a large house located high on the mountain Pení
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. There is a walking path which leads from
the town of Cadaqués up to the hermitage and this path follows the old "road" (although
it is not, and never was suitable for any wheeled vehicle) from the town to the hermitage.
There is also a more modern road (not asphalted) which leads to the hermitage.
The hermitage can also be regarded as a historical "talaia" or a look-out to warn the village of potential pirate raids.
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.
Cadaqués 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.
Books about Cadaqués
- "Galeria Cadaqués, obres de la col·lecció Bombelli" ISBN 8489771316 (MACBA 2006) in Catalan
- "El Cadaqués de Peter Harnden i Lanfronco Bombelli" ISBN 8488258755, Col·legi d'Arquitectes de Cataluyna
- "El Vocabulari de Cadaqués" ISBN 848726560X, Ernesta sala, Parsifal Edicions, written in Catalan
- "Cadaqués" Josep Pla ISBN 842610701X. This book is available in Catalan and Spanish.
- "Contraband" Josep Pla: about experiences Pla had in running small time contraband from Cadaqués
External links