April, 2010

Isla Negra is a very popular place in Chile for artists because in this same land Chilean Nobel prize winner Pablo Neruda built one of his famous houses. He actually bought a very small house in 1939 overlooking the ocean, and gradually enlarged it. The excuse for acquiring this – at the beginning very humble – property, was that he was in need for a place that would inspire him in order to fully concentrate in his writing. A goal in which he apparently succeeded, as in this house he wrote his “Canto General”, one of his masterpieces and work that earned him the Nobel Prize. The only real attraction the small house had was an incomparable view of the magnificent Pacific Ocean, of which the writer was a loyal fan and admirer. From practically every window, Neruda could gaze at the ocean’s huge waves rising to the sky until almost transparent, and then breaking furiously into enormous rocks. The house, in fact, through its architecture and various objects present, permanently reminds the visitor of boats and the closeness to the sea.

Over many years the writer enjoys the gradual enlargement of his house, which also implies coming up with ingenious solutions for displaying his many collections. As he ones wrote: “In my house I’ve had toys big and small, and I could not live without them. I have also built my house as a toy, and I play in it from morning to evening” . There are in fact more than 3500 inventoried objects in the house… all of which were remarkably value to the poet. His sea-shell collection is amazing and really enhances the closeness to the sea.

Visiting this place is undoubtedly an extraordinary experience, and many have written about the different feelings this unusual place provokes: “I confess I have come” (Confieso que he venido) wrote Uruguayan Nobel prize winner Gabriel García Márquez, ingeniously referring to Neruda’s memoirs “I confess that I’ve lived” (Confieso que he vivido). What’s so amazing about this place is not the impression of visiting a house of luxury, but quite the opposite, of a place of very complicated simplicity, where everything has been displayed with the only aim of being surrounded by every small ownable thing. It’s the demonstration of the conscientious decisions behind an artist who creates life inside the many walls of his house, as there’s much drama and sense of theatre in every corner. Everything I soaked up in scenery and creativity, comprising experiences, life, present and past.

Pablo Neruda spent the last years of his life staring at the ocean from his Isla Negra home. He died on September 23rd 1973 and was buried in the courtyard of his house, where there is a gravestone in his memory. Twelve years later, his beloved wife Matilde Urrutia died, and her body was buried next to him.