Cesar Manrique was a painter, sculptor, architect, landscape artist, urban designer, environmentalist. He played a great role in developing Lanzarote.
Background
Manrique was born in Arrecife, Lanzarote. He spent his childhood in picturesque surroundings of Famara on the northwest coast of the island, what to some extent determined his choice of the profession.
He died in a car accident at Tahíche, Teguise in 1992.
Education
While studying in university, he finally realized what his devotion was. The thing is that other students mocked him when he said that he was from Lanzarote, telling him it was nothing but a heap of ashes.
" To me it was the most beautiful place on earth and I realised that had they seen the island through my eyes they would have agreed with me. From then onwards I was determined to bring the beauty of Lanzarote to the attention of the whole world".
Career
The Art always took central place in Manrique’s life.
At the age of 23, Manrique held his first exhibition in Arrecife.
In 1953 together with a group of artist friends in Madrid Manrique opened the Fernando Fe art gallery. In 1954 he had his first abstract exhibition along with his friends Manuel Manpaso and Luis Feito.
Over the years Manrique gained such population that in 1964, Nelson Rockefeller who had purchased some of his paintings invited him to America, where an artist exhibited in various galleries all over the country ( including the exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 1964).
In the 1960's he had multiple exhibitions in Spain, Germany, England, Sweden, Italy, Austria, Brazil, Japan, USA and Finland.
But he never gave up his idea of developing Lanzarote. After returning from the USA he started his campaign of making Lanzarote the piece of art with raising awareness of Lanzarote people to respect the style of traditional architecture.
He had a burning and overwhelming passion for the natural beauty of the island. He hated to see the people of Lanzarote 'modernising' their houses. Manrique was convinced that there had to be a balance - a balance between preserving the best in the environment and satisfying the needs of his fellow islanders; a balance between man and nature.
To demonstrate that this is not impossible he created a unique house inside volcanic bubbles of lava flow. That was his chance to show that something that is considered to be just a useless piece of land can be converted to something beautiful. Later this building would turn into Cesar Manrique Foundation.
The foundation was set up in 1982 by Cesar Manrique and a group of friends but wasn't officially opened until 1992 after Manrique died. The foundation is a non-profit organisation set-up to make people acquainted with works of Cesar Manrique, to promote artistic activity and cultural reflection, and develop activities that favour respect for the natural environment and the order of the landscape.
Besides, Manrique designed seven Centres Of Art, Tourism And Culture that now are the famous tourist attraction. They are: Jameos del Agua formed by lava flow, this complex includes an auditorium set in a volcanic cavern with seatings for 600 persons; Casa Museo y Monumento al Campesino, designed in the style of the typical Lanzarotean farm; The Fire Mountains with wonderful restaurant where the volcano's heat is used for cooking; Mirador del Rio; International Museum Of Contemporary Art; Cueva de los Verdes, the longest volcanic tunnel in the world; Cactus Gardens, which contains over 10,000 cacti of more than 1,100 different varieties.
Lanzarote became his major work of art. He managed to find that equilibrium between man and nature. Cesar Manrique is the person who actually “made” the island.