Federico García Lorca
(1898–1936)

In 1936, the life and career of Spain's most famous 20th-century poet, Federico García Lorca, tragically ended. He was executed during the first days of the Spanish Civil War. In the years following his untimely death, García Lorca became a martyr for those who opposed General Francisco Franco's brutal regime. It wasn't until Franco's death in 1975 that the people of Spain were finally able to openly admire this magnificent poet.

Born in a rural town in southern Spain, García Lorca was the eldest of four children born to a wealthy farmer and a school teacher. Young Federico had a love of books from the time he was first able to read. However, throughout his adolescence his true passion was music. Until the death of his esteemed music teacher in 1916, he had hoped to pursue a career in music. A professor at the University of Granada encouraged García Lorca to begin writing. In 1920, García Lorca transferred to the University of Madrid and moved into the Residencia de Estudiantes, a place modeled after the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge. Here, García Lorca became acquainted with some of the greatest artists and writers of his time. His friendship with artist Salvador Dalí had a lasting effect on him.

The decade of the 1920s brought increasing fame and success for García Lorca. It was during this time that he published Gypsy Ballad-Book (1928), a book of poetry that became a bestseller and established his reputation on the literary scene. The following year, García Lorca traveled to the United States to take classes at Columbia University in New York City. Out of this experience came one of his best-known collections of poetry, Poet in New York (1940). Although the 1920s were an important time for García Lorca, it wasn't until 1933 that he finally gained commercial success with the premiere of his play—Blood Wedding, a first in a trilogy. The success of the play also brought him financial independence from his family, something he had not had previously.

The years 1934 and 1935 were probably the most successful of his life. His last major poetic collection, Diván del Tamarit, was written during this time. He also published the last two plays of his trilogy, Yerma (1934) and Doña Rosita la soltera (1935). Finally, in June 1936, two months prior to his death, García Lorca completed the first draft of what was to be his last play, La casa de Bernarda Alba.

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