Mon cor estima un arbre! Més vell que l’olivera,
més poderós que el roure, més verd que el taronger,
conserva de ses fulles l’eterna primavera,
i lluita amb les ventades que assalten la ribera,
com un gegant guerrer.
-“Lo Pi de Formentor” de Miquel Costa i Llobera
My heart loves a tree! Older than the olive,
more powerful than the oak, greener than the orange tree,
its leaves maintain eternal spring,
and it battles the winds that assault the shore,
like a giant warrior.
-“Lo Pi de Formentor” by Miquel Costa i Llobera
On an ordinary autumn Monday in 1922, Palmesanos filed into the pews to hear Miquel Costa i Llobera give a sermon on Saint Teresa. Little did they know it would be the famous poet’s last. He passed away while standing at the pulpit.
A tragedy, no doubt, and an end to the prolificity of the defining figure of Catalan romanticism. Yet as always, there was the will to read and the distribution of the poet’s coveted property, the Formentor peninsula. It was divided amongst his heirs, but it also caught the eye of outside parties.
One such was Adan Diehl, an Argentine millionaire, art connoisseur and die-hard romantic who saw the property as the ideal landscape for an artists’ commune. At the cost of 520,000 Pesetas—around €1.2 million today—he purchased some of the land from the family and started construction on Hotel Formentor in 1929.
The breathtaking natural beauty combined with the Art Deco architecture and the location’s exclusivity—you could only arrive by boat—quickly earned its renown as a luxury resort for the rich and famous. Names that graced its halls include Charlie Chaplin, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Audrey Hepburn and John Wayne, as well as Sir Winston Churchill and the Dalai Lama.
These guests and their deep pockets let Diehl invite many of his artist friends to enjoy a somewhat cushier Bohemian lifestyle, free room and board as long as they followed their passion. Writers like Camilo José Cela, Italo Calvino and Robert Graves spent time at the hotel, as well as painters like Roberto Montenegro and even the fashion designer Jean Patou, who invented “Formentor trousers” during his time there, casual wear for the hotel’s female guests that would later become known as “palazzo pants”.
As romantic and idealistic as it was, this business model was surprisingly successful as well, and the hotel enjoyed prominence through the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War. It was not until 1954 that financial difficulties forced its sale to the Buades family, and the international art scene that had once graced “the island of calm” disappeared.
Seven Decades Later
After a considerable hiatus, Mallorca’s international art scene appears to be in a renaissance. There have always been artists attracted to the island’s serene beauty, but they have mostly worked in isolation. Now, Greg Mason and Anne-Kathrein Erban are making a change.
A member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, Greg Mason is a British figurative painter whose storied career has taken him around the world. He’s been an artist in residence in Italy and taught around the UK and France.
While Mallorca may be a common landing place for British tourists, Mason ended up here quite by accident. Originally looking for a place to settle in Latin America, his wife contacted him after a trip with their daughter to rave about Mallorca as an artistic inspiration. Combined with its easy access to his main studio in Devon, Mason opened a studio just across the street from the Claustre de Sant Domingo in the center of Pollença. He has many commissions, but he told me that he sells the bulk of his work, mostly devoted to natural and urban landscapes in Mallorca, via walk-ins.
Anne Erban has a much different story. Originally a teacher from Hamburg, she decided to follow her original passion for painting when her children were born and returned to the University of the Arts, after which she started freelancing. In 2015, another artist friend invited her and her husband, David Erban, a sculptor himself, to live part-time in an extension of his house outside of Campos.
For Anne, painting is a way to explore the island. She and her husband travel to famous and obscure locations both, and Anne sketches the scene, paints plein air or takes a photo and finishes the painting in her rural studio. You can find her process throughout the magazine, giving an artist’s perspective into the featured locales.
Although Anne was originally an abstract artist, she felt that the natural beauty of Mallorca demanded oil painting. That’s how she came to meet Greg Mason, attending one of his workshops. Now they meet on a regular basis to discuss oil painting and how it captures the essence of “the island of calm.”
Unstoppable Creativity
The Buades family ran Hotel Formentor until 2006, when they sold it to the Barceló Group for €70 million. It was renamed “Royal Hideaway Formentor” until sold again in a widely publicized deal to Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts for €165 million.
For now, Hotel Formentor’s doors remain closed while the Canadian hotel chain makes extensive renovations to the historic building. Though the company has assured otherwise, this has drawn concern from members of the community who fear the construction will change too much.
One certainly hopes that amidst the renovation, something of the dream that was Hotel Formentor can be revived, yet sometimes, it’s best to free our symbols to the past and look toward the future. Whether the Hotel Formentor is reborn as a luxury stay for the rich and famous or a Bohemian retreat for the world’s creative minds, the international art scene seems to be coming together regardless.