Page 112 - Vía Libre Special - 25 Years of Spanish High Speed Rail

arts
brake van

The AVE

in art

E

Each of the new eras in the world of railways has
been reflected in the arts. Artists have included tra-
ins, stations, and railway landscapes on their can-
vases and pages while remaining faithful to their Viaje del tren a través del tiempo (Train journey
particular style. There is no such thing as an artistic through time), by José Manuel Sánchez.
railway style; artists have used realism, impressio-
nism or cubism to depict the railway, depending on
the historical period they were painting in. Due to
time it first appeared, more than any other style the
AVE has been linked with hyperrealism. In the golden
years of abstraction trains practically disappeared
from painting, albeit not from literature, photogra-
phy or the cinema, and returned to the canvas at
the time of a movement to which it was well suited
due to the trains’ clean lines, comfort and techno-
logical complexity.
The photograph entitled Viaje del tren a tra-
vés del tiempo (Train journey through time), by José Paisaje a 300 km/h (Landscape at 300 km/h),
Manuel Sánchez Barrado, which in 2002 won the first by Vito Redaelli.
prize of the 16th edition of the competition Caminos
de Hierro, perfectly expresses the idea of the evolu- ries inspired by her constant travels as a member of
tion of the railway over time paired with the succes- parliament. El bar de l’AVE (2017), by Valentí Puig, uses
sion of artistic trends. As the late British economist the train as a place where his characters meet and
and writer Tony Judt says in The Glory of the Rails the economic and moral uncertainties of Spanish
(2010), unlike other techno-scientific manifestations society come to light. With regard to the cinema,
that have embodied modernity only at the moment we might recall the recent comedy Incidencias (2015)
of the appearance on the scene, “it seems that trains by José Corbacho.
are permanently modern, as are stations”. But without a doubt it is painting, especially
Photography, with its habitual aim of docu- hyperrealist painting, which has best reflected the
menting the social concerns of the time, has also formal beauty and the technological, landscape, ar-
reflected the controversies aroused, as always ha- chitectural, and social impact of the AVE. We would
ppens when something new comes along, by the highlight the work of José Miguel Palacio, who has
appearance and development of high speed rail. dedicated a number of canvases to high speed rail,
Concerns regarding the radial geometry of the ne- such as the oil painting Interior del nido del AVE. Es-
twork or the disappearance of certain types of con- tación de Atocha (Inside the nest of the AVE. Atocha
nections between cities seem to rear their head in Station) (2009), which belongs to the Rail Art collec-
some of the award-winning photos in the Caminos tion curated by FFE.
de Hierro competition, such as Paisaje a 300 km/h In this collection we can find works created
(Landscape at 300 km/h) by Vito Redaelli from the using various techniques, all of them attempting
8th edition in 1994. Energías (2016) by Carlos Verdú to capture something of the nature of high speed
Belda, from the 28th edition, deserves special men- rail travel; the speed, the modernity, its easy access
tion as it shows with crystalline clarity the environ- from city centres, its ability to compete with air
mental advantages of the new railway development. travel, etc. The watercolour En la estación (At the
In literature there are some collections of station) (2016), by Javier Zorrilla, which successfully
short stories related to the AVE, such as Marta captures the atmosphere of the station, reminds of
Alòs’s Històries de l’AVE (2009), a collection of sto- us of our everyday experience of boarding an AVE

112 Vía Libre • Special 25th Anniversary of the AVE Edition