The King Felipe VI has remembered the former Minister of Culture José Guirao, who died on Monday at the age of 63, as a “great public servant” and a “passionate about culture”. In addition, he has cited the painting by the Malaga painter Pablo Picasso, Guernica, as a work of art “symbol of barbarism and cruelty” of war.
This is how Felipe VI expressed himself during his speech at the delivery of the 2020 National Culture Awards, which he presided over together with Queen Letizia at the Prado National Museum and in which the Minister of Culture, Miquel Iceta. The monarch has valued the “formidable” work of the winners who “honor our culture both inside and outside the borders.”
Felipe VI has recalled that culture has been revealed as “an essential component for our life” even more so after the two years of the pandemic in which books, poems, drawings, songs, theater or photographs “were more important than ever.”
“You are a source of pride, magnificent ambassadors of our country, archivists of our history, cartoonists of our future.to go. With your art you plant the seeds of the Spain that we are“, said Felipe VI addressing the winners.
In this sense, he wanted to recall that culture, in addition to creating spiritual wealth, also generates employment and builds shared imaginaries, citing the 3.4% that the cultural sector contributes to Spain’s GDP.
“Numbers that are unable to assess, on the other hand, your enormous contribution to collective and individual well-being; unable, either, to describe the intimate impact of a book on its readers, or of a painting on its viewers,” he added.
A nod to Guernica
At this point, you have reflected on the difficult times in which society is immersed that “require unprecedented efforts” so also the “commitment to art, artists and creation”, he said, while citing again the pandemic linked to the war in Ukraine.
“In these circumstances, art and culture remind us that we are human, and that respect and coexistence they are part of our identity as Spaniards and as Europeans“, has claimed to then recall that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Pablo Picasso, author of the famous Guernica.
“Symbol yesterday, today and always of the barbarism, pain and cruelty of any war. Going back to Picasso is to understand what is inhuman and unjust about wars”, he has sentenced.
Finally, he has made a call to society to “join forces and walk hand in hand with culture”. Specifically, he has urged the public authorities and the private sector to promote the sector and “give back to culture what it gives us”, she has indicated.