Federico García Lorca

From 1925, García was passionately in love with artist Salvador Dalí, who though shared the same emotions, did not become physically involved. The friendship between the two creative minds lasted till Dalí got married to a woman named Gala.

Just before the ‘Spanish Civil War’ started, the writer, who was open about his socialist ideals, travelled home to Granada. Lorca was taken into police custody after the murder of Granada mayor Manuel Fernández-Montesinos, who was also the former's brother-in-law.

On August 19, 1936, the writer was shot to death, but the motive behind his assassination is still under speculation. While many believe it was his political ideals and support for the 'Popular Front', others are of the opinion that he was murdered because of his sexual orientation.

Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca was born to Federico García Rodríguez and Vicenta Lorca Romero, on June 5, 1898, in the Fuente Vaqueros village of Spain. Rodríguez was a farm owner, while his wife Vicenta was a pianist and a teacher.

In 1909, the family settled down in Granada, where the young child grew up and pursued his education.

Federico studied literature, law, and composition at the 'University of Granada' in 1915. He had a flair for classical music and theatre as a student, and he was trained in playing the piano.

The following year, he started writing, after being motivated by one of his professors. 'Impresiones y Paisajes' ('Impressions and Landscapes'), his first book was published in the year 1918.

In 1919, García joined the 'Residencia de estudiantes', a cultural centre in Madrid. It was here that he got acquainted to future filmmaker, Luis Buñuel, artist Salvador Dalí, dramatist Eduardo Marquina, and poet Juan Ramón Jiménez.

During 1919-20, Lorca penned his first play, 'El maleficio de la mariposa' ('The Butterfly's Evil Spell'). The drama, which spoke about the love affair of a butterfly and a cockroach, was soon written off by the audiences, for being unusual.

García began writing the poem 'Suites' in 1920, but it remained incomplete, and three years later, the poet gave up working on it.

In 1921, he published 'Libro de poemas' ('Book of Poems'), which consisted of works dealing with religion and nature.

‘Romancero Gitano’ is considered even today as one of the most famous poetic work by Federico García. The collection, consisting of eighteen octosyllabic poems, talk about gypsies in the towns of Seville, Granada and Cordoba.