Rafael Alberti

Rafael Alberti was born on December 16, 1902 in El Puerto de Santa María, a town in Cádiz, Spain. He was the son of a wine merchant and a pianist. He had a happy childhood and developed an interest in painting and poetry. He moved to Madrid in 1917 with his family and studied art at the San Fernando Academy. He also published his first poems in magazines and won a prize for his painting La primavera (Spring). He became friends with other young poets, such as Federico García Lorca, Luis Cernuda and Vicente Aleixandre, who formed part of the Generation of '27, a group of avant-garde writers who were influenced by modernism and surrealism. He published his first book of poetry, Marinero en tierra (Sailor on Land), in 1925 and won the National Literature Prize. He followed it with other acclaimed collections, such as La amante (The Lover), El alba del alhelí (The Dawn of the Wallflower) and Sobre los ángeles (Concerning the Angels), which showed his mastery of different styles and themes. He also wrote plays, such as Fermín Galán (Fermín Galán) and El hombre deshabitado (The Uninhabited Man), which reflected his social and political concerns. He married María Teresa León, a writer and journalist, in 1930 and had a daughter with her in 1941. He was an active supporter of the Second Spanish Republic and joined the Communist Party of Spain in 1931. He held various cultural and diplomatic posts during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and collaborated with other artists and intellectuals in the defense of democracy against fascism. He went into exile in 1939 after Franco's victory and lived in various countries, such as France, Argentina, Italy and Cuba. He continued writing poetry, such as Entre el clavel y la espada (Between the Carnation and the Sword), Retornos de lo vivo lejano (Returns from the Distant Living) and Baladas y canciones del Paraná (Ballads and Songs of the Paraná), as well as memoirs, such as La arboleda perdida (The Lost Grove) and Los caprichos de Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (The Caprices of Francisco de Goya y Lucientes). He also painted and drew extensively during his exile. He received several awards and honors for his literary work, such as the Lenin Peace Prize in 1953 and the Cervantes Prize in 1983. He returned to Spain in 1977 after Franco's death and the restoration of democracy. He was welcomed by thousands of people who admired his poetry and his commitment to freedom. He died on October 28, 1999 in El Puerto de Santa María at the age of 96