Canary Islands Tourism Guide - Canary Islands Art

Lanzarote Art and Culture - Cesar Manrique

Cesar Manrique you may not be very familiar with, as Spanish artists such as Joan Miro, Picasso and others tend to receive most international attention on the contemporary art scene. After a week or two in Lanzarote, however, you'll soon know who he is, and the special place he occupies for most islanders here in Lanzarote. There is no doubt, Manrique has had an influence on Lanzarote's tourist development from the second half of the 20th century and all the better for it for sure! Indeed his influence has spread across the Canary Islands.

Manrique was born in Lanzarote just outside the capital Arrecife in April 1919, although his family roots are Fuerteventura. Of middle class origins, he recalled his childhood as a happy time, spending summer days on Famara beach. The coming of the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s saw Manrique volunteer on the Franco/Fascist side - little is known of this period of his life as the only information he would give was that the experience was atrocious. The end of the Civil War saw him back in Arrecife on Lanzarote (where he promptly burnt his military uniform).

What followed was a dabbling in Technical Architecture at La Laguna University on Tenerife which he dropped, then went off to Madrid on a scholarship at the Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, where he graduated as an Art Professor and Painter. A real period of growth for this artist was no doubt his stay in New York in the mid-1960s where he mingled with the likes of Waldo Diaz-Balard a Cuban painter, but even in New York he had Lanzarote and the Canary Islands on his mind. He returned to Lanzarote just as the tourist boom was about to take off, and his return was well timed.

The result of his influence can be seen across Lanzarote, from the lack of high builds (they sneaked the Grand Hotel/the only tall building on Lanzarote on Arrecife's waterfront in when he wasn't looking before he pushed through the ban on buildings over a certain height) to his public art in the form of sculptures, his own designed cactus garden, his once home - built largely in caves at the Manrique Foundation near Costa Teguise and the famous caves of Jameos del Agua. He developed a few Miradors (lookout points) too - on Lanzarote the Mirador del Rio is unmissible. The Manrique Foundation continues his work, he died tragically on Lanzarote near the Foundation in a car crash in 1992. Disciplined, resolute and reserved, Manrique didn't smoke or drink and often rose early to start work, his unmistakable mark has certainly been left on Lanzarote - most agree for the better.

Gran Canaria and Las Palmas Art

Las Palmas is superb on contemporary art. Head for the Museum of Modern Art in the Vegueta historic district of Las Palmas. Here is a superb collection including work by Cesar Manrique and various other Canarian and international artists. Exhibitions are changing, and often display work by international artists (such as recently the surreal work of Arnulf Rainer and Dieter Roth) usually with some links to the Canary Islands. Highly recommended, and well worth a visit (free to enter) if you're in Las Palmas.

CAAM, C/Los Balcones, 11. 35001 las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Tel: 902 31 18 24. Open from 10am to 9pm Tuesdays to Saturdays, and 10am to 2pm Sundays.

Tenerife Art and Santa Cruz de Tenerife

The hub of Tenerife's art and cultural scene, including the best art galleries, museums exploring Guanche pre-hispanic settlement and religious history museums are to be found in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Puerto de la Cruz, La Laguna and La Orotava. Like Las Palmas, Gran Canaria's capital, Santa Cruz de Tenerife is a centre for art and culture. The Museo de Bellas Artes (Municipal Museum of Fine Arts) (Calle Jose Murphy 12, Santa Cruz. Tel: 922 24 43 58) is free to enter. Of particular interest here is the depiction of the landing of Spanish conquerors on the beaches of Anazo, with a rather eccentric looking Alonso Fernandez de Lugo standing by his giant wooden cross.

The painting is by Gumersindo Robayna Lazo and dates from 1494 and is typical of smug colonialist art - we see the same image elsewhere in depictions of movement west crushing Native Americans or indeed on the pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock. In this painting a Guanche warrior crouches behind a cactus looking on to the pomp and circumstance of de Lugo's landing - crouched and submissive. Catholicism and military might have arrived. Not quite the true picture though - Guanche resistance on Tenerife particularly was relentless and the strongest of all the Canary Islands.

Opened in 2003, the Auditorio De Tenerife on Santa Cruz's waterfront certainly catches the eye. As far back as 1970 local residents were pushing for an Opera House in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. As well as being the central venue for the Canary Islands big classical music festival held annually in January and February, it's also a venue for cutting edge pop and rock acts increasingly (particularly homegrown Canarian or Spanish/Latin American acts).