In La Isla de la Calma, Santiago Rusiñol shows his attraction for Mallorca, especially for the treasures of the North Coast.
There was a child, on this island, who didn't want to swim out of fear of turning blue; so, from Miramar you can see so much blue that it is strange that the boats passing by are not coloured ultramarine when they reach dry land. You can't see anything else. Everything is there. It either reaches the sky or it pulls it down: but out there everything is a single thing, and those waves so troublesome to those travelling on them, from here, are nothing more than wrinkles on such a delicate skins, that it seems you could smooth them out with your hand. Above this bright blue sea there are mysterious paths that, since they keep changing places, must only be known to fish.
La isla de la calma (The Island of Calm), 1922
Translated by Richard Mansell. Performed by Tòfol Arbona.
(Barcelona, 1861 – Aranjuez, Espanya, 1931). Santiago Rusiñol was a multifaceted artist, known for his paintings, essays and narrative writing. He chose not to go into the family’s industrial business and opted, instead, for a bohemian life in the fields of art and literature. As a hiker in his youth, he got to know Spain very well, not only visiting places on foot but also travelling round the whole of Catalonia by horse and cart. Finally he exchanged Barcelona for Paris, where he discovered Impressionism first hand and spent long periods of time, sometimes accompanied by the painter Ramon Casas. He fell in love with Sitges, where he bought a building known as Cau Ferrat, and he organized a Modernist festival there between 1892 and 1899. In February 1893, he travelled to Mallorca with friends, one of whom was writer Raimon Casellas. This first trip led to lasting ties between Russinyol and the island and later to the publication of the book L'illa de la calma (The Island of Calm) (1922). He spent long periods on Mallorca - alone or with his family -, painting, making friends and travelling round the whole of the island until 1923, when he visited it for the last time. One of his most emblematic works is L'auca del senyor Esteve (Mr Esteve’s Alleluyas), written as a novel (1907) and play (1917). It is a bohemian and, at times, caustic tribute to Barcelona’s artisan class, the driving force behind the capital’s growth. With his mixture of gentle irony and disenchanted melancholy, this famous bohemian painter, playwright and novelist gave rise to extensive anecdotes wherever he went.
In 1873, wanting to open Miramar to people, Archduke Ludwig Salvator opened the ca madó Pilla guesthouse. This ensured that it was visited by many distinguished figures, such as the writers Jacint Verdaguer, Miguel de Unamuno and Rubén Darío, and the artist Santiago Russinyol, author of L’illa de la calma. Amongst these memorable visitors was the Empress Elisabeth, known as Sisi, who was the Archduke's cousin; her stay inspired a poem by Miquel dels Sants Oliver.
The landscape that captivated Ramon Llull and the Archduke was also admired by Russinyol, and all who visit the area. Surely the landscape at Miramar and “sa Foradada”, a natural arch, are one of the most well-known, painted and photographed landscapes in Majorca. The area’s natural and cultural wealth, and that of the whole of the Tramuntana, has been recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
