Don Quixote

This September, on the 477th anniversary of the birth of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616), an essential author of Spanish literature, we want to remember, from the visual arts, his famous Don Quixote, protagonist of The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha (1605), considered one of the best texts in the Spanish and universal language, as well as the most edited and translated, behind the Bible.

This novel, written at the beginning of the 17th century, was successful from the beginning, and became, until today, a reference and study material; taken to theater, music, cinema, dance, and every artistic manifestation that exists.

It’s a work that introduced us to a Don Quixote, actually called Alonso Quijano, idealist, dreamer, sometimes crazy, but faithful to his ideas of defending injustice, just causes, especially the unprotected, in the name of honor and love.

It’s about a knight, an adventurer and conqueror who dares to fight against windmills, whether because he was hallucinating or not, but he undertook his fight with courage, convinced of his duty.

The also called Knight of the Rueful Countenance is a character that has been recreated many times. He has obsessed creators of all times who immortalized him tall, thin, with a beard and moustache, slender body and fantastical airs. Here we offer you a selection of drawings and paintings by authors such as Honoré Daumier (1808-1879), Gustave Doré (1833-1888), Pablo Picasso (1881-1974), José Moreno Carbonero (1860-1942), David Davidovich Burliuk (1882-1967), André Masson (1896-1987), Salvador Dalí (1904-1989), and Antonio Saura (1930-1998), taken from the websites https://fahrenheitmagazine.com  and https://www.educomunicacion.es  Some of them were made to illustrate editions of the novel.

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff