New mural commemorates Chilean poet Pablo Neruda in Barcelona

Barcelona., Barcelona’s Eixample district has launched an artistic mural to commemorate Chilean poet Pablo Neruda to coincide with the 120th anniversary of his birth. The mural will be placed on a large wall in the square that bears his name near the Sagrada Familia.

According to a statement issued by Barcelona City Council on Saturday, the mural will be inaugurated in mid-September and will be carried out in collaboration with the Consulate of Chile, the Barcelona Institute of Culture (ICUB) and local authorities.

The artistic concept of the mural revolves around the Winnipeg ship that Neruda floated in 1939 from France on behalf of the Chilean government to transport more than 2,000 Republican exiles fleeing the Civil War.

The authors of the work are Roc Blackblock, a local artist, and the Chilean Mono González, and the final image is a composition that shows the detail of a suitcase held by a girl, on whose surface is represented the fragment of a boat full of roads and houses as an allegory of the “boat of migrant peoples.”

The suitcase that represents exile is shown, in the words of its authors, “full of memories and pain, but also of hope and future.”

A 480 square meter wall

The intervention was carried out on the median strip of the residential building at number 221 on Lepant Street, on a wall with an area of ​​approximately 480 square metres.

The proposal maintains the original approach of designating the space of the current square as a place of memory dedicated to the poet, which began in 2017 with a redevelopment and renaming of the old Plaza de la Hispanidad, as part of a long-standing demand from the neighborhood’s associative movement.

The redevelopment of the space left a large median strip exposed, causing a strong visual impact and the residents proposed covering it with an artistic mural in homage to Neruda, also symbolizing the link between Chile and Barcelona.

The promoters of the initiative agreed that one of the most notable episodes in the history of Neruda’s common relationship with Barcelona was the exile of Republican refugees who were able to travel from France to Chile on the Winnipeg thanks to the intervention of the poet, then special consul for Spanish immigration.