Spanish Silver Age

We explain what the silver age of Spanish culture is. In addition, its characteristics and history.

What is the Spanish silver age?

The silver age It is the period of Spanish culture that covers The first third of the twentieth century (Although some historians identify their beginning in the final decades of the 19th century). It is called the silver age for the quality and prominence of its intellectuals, writers and artists.

This group of intellectuals was Traditionally classified into generations:

• The generation of 98
• THE GENERATION OF 14
• THE GENERATION OF 27

Some names identified with the silver age of Spanish culture are Miguel de Unamuno, Juan Ramón Jiménez, Antonio Machado, José Ortega y Gasset, María Zambrano, Pablo Picasso, Federico García Lorca, Ernestina de Champourcin, Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí.

The end of the Silver Age is usually marked in 1936, when the Spanish Civil War began (1936-1939). Many of the representatives of this period departed into exile. Others, such as García Lorca or Ramiro de Maeztu, were killed during the war.

See also: Restoration crisis in Spain

The historical context

The silver age of Spanish culture coincided with an era of political changes and social crises. In 1874 the Bourbon monarchy was restored and in 1898, under the reign of Alfonso XIII (still under the regency of his mother, María Cristina), The Spanish defeat in the Spanish-American War caused The loss of the last territories that Spain retained in America.

At the beginning of the 20th century, social inequalities caused strikes and workers’ demonstrations (mostly socialist and anarchists) that in some cases led to repression (such as the tragic week of Barcelona in 1909). In 1914 the First World War broke out and the Spanish government remained neutral, but the economic policy adopted by the effect of the conflict produced high inflation and increased inequalities, which in turn expanded the workers agitation (as happened in the general strike of 1917).

In those years Some political movements questioned the Bourbon Restoration Regime and, on the other hand, Defense boards were formed, which demanded a greater intervention from the military sector in politics. In 1918 a pandemic began, known as “Spanish flu” (although it had no origin in Spain), which caused the death of millions of people in much of the world.

In 1923, a coup d’etat established the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Riverawhich culminated in 1930 due to lack of support. In 1931 the Second Republic was proclaimed, and this was the end of the monarchy and exile of Alfonso XIII. The Republican period was divided into a republican-socialist government (1931-1933), a radical-careful right-wing government (1934-1936) and a Government of the Popular Front (1936-1939).

See also: Restoration in Spain

Institutions related to the Spanish Silver Age

The Spanish silver age was characterized by the quality and diversity of its representatives in various areas of art and thought: literature (poetry and prose), philosophy, plastic arts, dance, music, theater and even cinema.

In this era of cultural splendor The free of education and other institutions linked to it, such as the Student Residence and the Institute-School of Madrid, had great prominence. These institutions followed ideas oriented to cultural and educational renewal.

Some writers and intellectuals of the period, such as the poets Antonio Machado and Juan Ramón Jiménez or the professors Julián Besteiro and Fernando de los Ríos, studied in these institutions.

This rise of thought and letters took place in a social context in which illiteracy rates covered the majority of the Spanish population: In 1930 there were no more than thirty -eight thousand university students.

Generations of the Spanish Silver Age

The Spanish silver age was mainly made up of three generations:

• The generation of 1898. It was made up of intellectuals born between the 1860s and mid-1870s who were affected by the defeat of Spain in the Spanish-American War (1898) and dedicated themselves to rethinking the Spanish identity and its place in the world.

Some representatives: Pío Baroja, Azorín, Miguel de Unamuno, Antonio Machado, Ramón del Valle-Inclán or Ramiro de Maeztu.

• The generation of 1914. It was formed by intellectuals born between 1876 and 1890 who, in general, proposed a greater relationship with European intellectual culture and bet on political participation.

Some representatives: Juan Ramón Jiménez, José Ortega y Gasset, Ramón Pérez de Ayala, Gregorio Marañón or Ramón Gómez de la Serna.

• The 1927 generation. It was formed by intellectuals born between 1891 and 1905, who began to stand out in the mid-twenties and reached their intellectual fullness during the Second Republic (1931-1939).

Some representatives: Pedro Salinas, Federico García Lorca, María Zambrano, Dámaso Alonso, Rafael Alberti or Ernestina de Champourcin.

The cultural life of the Second Republic

The Intellectuals had a special prominence during the years of the Second Republic, proclaimed in April 1931. Many of the Republican and socialist leaders who held positions in the Republicsuch as Manuel Azaña, Fernando de los Ríos or Julián Besteiro, They belonged to the intellectual world of the Silver Age. Other thinkers and writers of the period, such as José Ortega y Gasset, Antonio Machado or Gregorio Marañón, They expressly supported the new regime through the creation of the grouping at the service of the Republic.

The practically unanimous support to the Republican government was broken over time. As of 1932, some intellectuals, such as Ortega y Gasset or Miguel de Unamuno, adopted a critical position with the Republican-Socialist government, already the end of that same year the grouping in the service of the Republic ceased to exist.

However, Most intellectuals supported the government reformist policy, chaired by Manuel Azaña, and They collaborated in the cultural extension action of the Republican-Socialist period (1931-1933). Some theatrical companies, composed of professional actors and students, visited towns from the country and carried the main works of the Spanish theatrical repertoire. The best known of these companies was The barracaa personal project by the poet García Lorca.

Pedagogical missions had a similar objective: cultural diffusion between a population that was mostly illiterate Through street libraries, conferences, talks, poetry recitals, film or exhibition projections with works reproductions of the Prado Museum.

The generation of 27 went to the foreground during the republican period. The poet group was exceptional. Not only Dámaso Alonso, Rafael Alberti, Pedro Salinas, Federico García Lorca or Ernestina de Champourcin, but also Luis Cernuda, Vicente Aleixandre, Jorge Guillén, Gerardo Diego, Miguel Hernández (although born in 1910) and others. Among the novelists Ramón J. Sender stood out.

The arts of the Spanish Silver Age

In the early twentieth century, Architecture experienced the peak of modernism in Barcelona. Luis Doménech and Montaner built the Catalan music Palau (1905-1908) and Antonio Gaudí marked the urban plot of the city with works such as La Casa Milà (1906-1910), La Casa Batlló (1904-1906) and the sacred family (in which he began working in 1883).

At the same time, with a more conventional style, A good part of the buildings that border the Gran Vía were built in Madridin addition to the Palace of Communications (today called Palacio de Cibeles) in the Plaza de Cibeles and many of the palace that still survive on the Paseo de la Castellana and in the Barrio de Salamanca.

In painting and sculpture, great artists lived linked to the figurative tradition of the sculptor Mariano Benlliure or the painters Ignacio Zuloaga and Julio Romero de Torreswith others like Pablo Picasso, who throughout the first third of the century was taking the steps towards the creation of Cubism.

Next to Picasso, Very important painters such as Juan Gris, Joan Miró or Salvador Dalí, began at that time, and sculptors like Pablo Gargallo. In those years, these avant -garde artists were only known for a small social elite. In the cinema, the figure of Luis Buñuel, belonging to the generation of 1927 and linked to the circle of García Lorca and Dalí. His first films were integrated into the surreal movement.

The first third of the twentieth century It was also an outstanding time for the history of Spanish musicwith famous figures such as Isaac Albéniz, Enrique Granados and, above all, Manuel de Falla. In dance, Antonia Mercé and Encarnación López stood out.

Continue with:

References

• Britannica, Encyclopaedia (2016). Generation of 1898. Britannica Encyclopedia. https://www.britannica.com/
• Britannica, Encyclopaedia (2018). Generation of 1927. Britannica Encyclopedia. https://www.britannica.com/
• Díaz Pardo, F. (2018). Brief history of the generation of 27. Nowtilus.
• Márquez Padorno, M. (2003). The grouping at the service of the Republic: the action of intellectuals in the genesis of a new state. New Library.
• Trapiello, A. (1998). The grandchildren of the CID: the new golden age of Spanish literature (1898-1914). Planet.