Monument to the Sailors

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Art · Subcategory: Sculpture · Year: c. 1956 · Authors: Pedro Barral

The monument depicts two male figures. One stands with one hand on his forehead, in a gesture of scanning the horizon; the other holds a trammel net that falls over his shoulder and tangles behind his back. The latter is placed on the ground, with crossed legs, holding an anchor. Both display rigorous anatomy, but perhaps the seated figure is the most representative in this regard, as it shows a bare torso. Besides being sober, the ensemble gives a sense of stillness.

[...] its author is Pedro Barral, belonging to an important Spanish artist dynasty in which his brother Emiliano stands out. Made of artificial stone around 1956, it somewhat follows popular models not without a certain folkloric nuance. It inaugurates a commemorative typology that avoids individuality.

Its arrangement offers perfect visibility, although it is paradoxical that, supposedly designed to scan the sea, the sailors have been placed with their backs turned. However, this was undoubtedly done so that the front of the ensemble is viewed by those entering the port area and not by those arriving on the island, who can appreciate the Mater-Insula and León y Castillo monuments, placed facing the opposite direction to this one.

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