2023-10-29 12:40:45
One day in the early 1980s, the artist Agustín Ibarrola was walking through the Basque forest near his country house, as he often did. Then it burst out of him out of nowhere. He said to his wife: “I’m going to paint the forest.” That’s how they both remembered it in a joint interview years ago.
Said and done. Ibarrola began painting pine trunks in 1982, not randomly, but according to fixed ideas. He played with perspectives and dimensions, combined nature and culture in an idiosyncratic way, created deep spatial effects, surprising perspectives, and used the landscape as a canvas.
Not far from the Basque town of Gernika, which is called Guernica in Spanish and gained world fame through Pablo Picasso’s anti-war painting of the same name, the “Forest of Oma” (“Bosque de Oma”) advanced from an insider tip to a visitor attraction. In German the name sounds confusing. But it has nothing to do with a grandmother – Grandma is simply the name of a nearby hamlet and the surrounding valley.
Source: Infographic WELT
A disease of the trees and their natural aging process ultimately led to the old forest having to be closed for safety reasons. Now a new one has emerged nearby that puts its predecessor in the shade. At twelve hectares, it is almost three times larger. Thanks to a 1.5 kilometer long circular route, it is much better structured and can be experienced by visitors.
However, the very old Ibarrola, who was born in 1930, was no longer able to lend a hand personally. An interdisciplinary team of artists and experts did a great job working closely with the family.
The “Forest of Grandma” challenges visitors
Over 800 painted trees form 34 ensembles in the new “Grandma’s Forest”, some of which interlock with each other. “The rainbow” is self-explanatory and consists of a concentrated force of color, distributed over a multitude of wide rings and curls around pine trees that slope down into a depression.
The Basque artist Agustín Ibarrola in 2015
Source: Andreas Drouve
For other combinations, you have to take a position marked on the floor. Only in this way, for example, “The Kiss” becomes clear, in which two pieces of lips are applied one behind the other on different trees.
An “eye composition” is even spread across seven different tree trunks. In this way, the artist turns the viewers into silent accomplices. He surprises them, challenges them, gives them freedom to reflect, but always pushes them to find fixed points for the art experience.
From certain perspectives, the painting of several trees comes together to form a complete work
Source: Andreas Drouve
Suddenly you see a blue-green “motorcyclist” rushing up in a streamlined stance, if you visually put the two halves of the picture together. Another ensemble has more depth: “Nuclear Threat”. Everywhere on the trunks along the way, spread-apart red and white fingers forcefully convey the message of Ibarrola, who had said: “I raise my hands and scream: Enough.”
A homage to pointillism by Agustín Ibarrola
The new forest opened at the end of October after a long lead time. For artist Karol Franco, the collaboration was “a privilege,” as she says, combined with special challenges: “When I paint ceilings or walls in my home, they are smooth surfaces. But trees are not flat, they have curves and the structures of the bark.” The brushes she picked up looked coarse, like they came from a hardware store.
This made it all the more difficult to have the artistic sensitivity to create precise dimensions and depth. Occasionally Franco was forced to climb ladders or really stretch with extension poles. “The material is special vinyl paint that is not harmful to the trunks,” assures restorer Juan Bermejo on site, where pots and brushes were lying everywhere under a protective sail in the forest camp until shortly before the opening.
The colorful dots on the trunks are reminiscent of the Pointillism style
Source: Andreas Drouve
One of the last ensembles that Franco and Bermejo helped to complete together was the “Mosque of Córdoba,” a Moorish masterpiece in Andalusia characterized by reddish-white arches. A little further on, colorful dots shine on trunks: Ibarrola’s homage to the style of pointillism.
More tips for holidays in the Basque Country:
The influences of climate and time of day are interesting: sunlight. Fog. Rain. Dusk. Wind blowing through the branches. All of this puts visitors in changing moods. Interestingly, the feeling that you are under constant observation in the “eye” section remains the same at all times – regardless of whether it is very close or from several meters away. No matter whether from yellow, purple or black pupils. This is a visual experience in the best sense, just like the “Bosque de Oma” in its entirety: Spain’s most spectacular forest.
Information about the forest in the Basque Country:
Arrival and access: The “Forest of Grandma” is located in the Basque coastal hinterland northeast of the city of Gernika/Guernica, which is about half an hour’s drive from Bilbao. The starting point for the entry is the parking lot of the Santimamiñe cave. You park your vehicle there and start your hike by following the signs on a wide forest path. After 2.8 kilometers you reach the painted forest. The tour there is 1.5 kilometers long. Later you return to the parking lot along the same route. There is no infrastructure on the way, so you should take enough drinking water with you.
Access to the new “Grandma’s Forest” is free. However, you have to access via the website bizkaia.eus/en/web/bosque-oma-basoa/book-now Reservations; There are different time windows to choose from. You must show the confirmation at the checkpoint. On Saturdays at 11 a.m. it is possible to take part in a guided tour for 10 euros, but only in Spanish. The information telephone number is +34/944651657.
Further information, including guided tours, can be found at gernikainfo.eus/en/sorrounding-area/the-new-oma-forest/
Further information: Basquetour tourist agency, basquetour.eus
Participation in the trip was supported by the Basque tourism agency Basquetour. Our standards of transparency and journalistic independence can be found at axelspringer.com/de/werte/downloads.
Here you will find content from third parties
In order to display embedded content, your revocable consent to the transmission and processing of personal data is necessary, as the providers of the embedded content require this consent as third party providers [In diesem Zusammenhang können auch Nutzungsprofile (u.a. auf Basis von Cookie-IDs) gebildet und angereichert werden, auch außerhalb des EWR]. By setting the switch to “on”, you agree to this (revocable at any time). This also includes your consent to the transfer of certain personal data to third countries, including the USA, in accordance with Art. 49 (1) (a) GDPR. You can find more information about this. You can revoke your consent at any time using the switch and privacy at the bottom of the page.
#Art #Basque #Country #spectacular #forest #Spain