Daniel Vázquez Díaz (Nerva, Huelva, 1882 - Madrid, 1969): Huelva's best painter from the 20th century
The contemporary portraitist
"When I finished my baccalaureate, I decided on my vocation: I would be a painter, nothing more than a painter." This creative obsession of Daniel Vázquez Díaz accompanied him throughout his life and led to him becoming one of the most prolific and skilled modern artists and one of the most prominent masters of portrait painting.
"I enjoyed being alone and painting. The whole time it seemed very little effort to transfer onto paper the things my eyes saw or those I imagined enveloped in the grey skies of my town." The secret to Vázquez Díaz's ability was, according to his granddaughter, Laura Vázquez Díaz, his dedication to the work. "He painted from sunrise to sunset, from morning to night. He had novices and despite his strong and nervous temperament he was a likeable person." This capacity for work and affability enabled him to paint the portraits of some of Spain's most significant figures from the first half of the 20th century, ranging from King Alfonso XIII to Indalecio Prieto and including Unamuno, Azorín, García Lorca, José Antonio, Zuloaga, José Ortega y Gasset, and Domingo Ortega.
Painter "of the soul and hours"
In the town that is today known as Nerva (Huelva), when Vázquez Díaz was born the settlement was still known as the Aldea de Riotinto of Zalamea la Real. He undertook his baccalaureate and accounting specialisation in Seville. As soon as he completed his studies, he took off to Paris, which was the centre of the artistic movements of the time and the capital of art. His stay in Paris (1907-1917), like it did for many Spanish painters, left an indelible mark. His works show a strong influence and admiration for Cézanne, with elements common to Cubism and his painting was focused on the landscape and portraits. José María Pemán said he was "the painter of the soul and hours."
In 1927 he presented an exhibition of thirty paintings in a room at the Museum of Modern Art in Madrid. These included a sketch of his project to paint the frescos at La Rábida, a project that (years later) was captured on the cloistral murals at La Rábida, converting this pictorial composition, in his own words, into "my life's great dream".
Foundation and Centre for Contemporary Art
Daniel Vázquez Díaz, the best painter to emerge from Huelva in the 20th century, had no real tribute paid to him by his hometown during his years of life, despite the fact he lived for many years, dying aged 87. The real tribute came in 1999, when the Daniel Vázquez Díaz Foundation and the Centre for Contemporary Art in Nerva began. Today, they have become two outstanding artistic centres in the heart of the Mining Basin.
The permanent Vázquez Díaz collection housed in this centre is comprised of 21 pieces that address all the stages of his work. Regarding themes, eight are portraits, two are interiors with a figure, three are landscapes with figures, seven are landscapes and there is one still life.
Columbus Murals at La Rábida
From 12 October 1929 up to 12 October 1930 he painted Columbus-themed frescos on the interior walls of Santa María de la Rábida Monastery (Huelva), in which his artistic career up to that point culminated: geometric simplification of Cubism and picturesque austerity, undoubtedly owed to the Zurbaranesque monks. The subjects of these paintings were integrated on five panels based on the arrival of Columbus at La Rábida and his relationship with Brother Juan Pérez, his expedition of discovery and the seamanship of the towns of Palos de la Frontera and Moguer, departure from the Port of Palos, the three discovering caravels and other historic actions in a personal interpretation of the star figures involved in the event: Christopher Columbus and Martín Alonso Pinzón.
Following this line, the centre also hosts the portraits of cultural figures (Unamuno, Juan Ramón Jiménez, Rubén Darío...), which are included in the series Hombres de mi tiempo.
Exhibition at Casa Colón in Huelva
Casa Colón in Huelva is the permanent home of the exhibition named Poema del Descubrimiento, which contains 10 sketches made by Vázquez Díaz before he painted the frescos at La Rábida Monastery. They are the original sketches that Vázquez Díaz presented in Madrid in 1927 as an advance of the major mural project he later worked on at La Rábida. All the paintings have Columbus themes. They recall Columbus' arrival in America and his encounter with the indigenous people and a foreign civilisation.
Old photo of Hotel Colón, which is today the Casa Colón Conference Centre
An almost extra-terrestrial mining area
Of special mention in the stunning setting of Minas de Ríotinto, which has lunar landscapes and unique buildings, is the Mining Park situated in the town centre. Its different rooms house Roman statues wearing togas; mining tools from various time periods; a number of objects related to the rail industry; the so-called "Maharaja’s carriage", which was built for Elizabeth II on a journey to India; old locomotives from the beginning of the last century; the most luxurious narrow road carriage in the world that was used to transport King Alfonso XIII to the town; and a recent real-scale recreation of a Roman mine, which visitors can enter to experience the conditions people worked in at the time.
Places you should visit within the English neighbourhood of Bella Vista include the Anglican chapel, the English club and Casa Consejo. On the other hand, the route followed by the tourist train traces the original route of the commercial Riotinto-Huelva line, which runs along the right-hand edge of the Tinto River and enables you to observe the changes in the river’s water level and colour intensity (copper and iron), as well as stunning landscapes that appear extra-terrestrial (Zarandas) and natural hunting reserves (Pata del Caballo).
The presence of the river resulted in the location of bridges and stone mills on its banks. However, the main natural attraction in the municipal area is the Peña de Hierro Space, which offers a unique opportunity to discover a mine through its own inner depths with a visit through a gallery of 200 metres that leads to an interior lake in the largest open-pit mine in Europe, with an impressive elliptical form and incredible dimensions: 1,200 metres long, 900 metres wide and 300 metres deep.
