Oh, Beauty, I would love to paint you before I die!
Aligi Sassu
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ART NOUVEAU HOUSE
The most important ART Nouveau house of Sóller
Can Prunera is an intense and sensual artistic discovery. Accompanied by the sinuous forms of nature, everything harmonises with joy, playfulness and silence. Modernism (as the Art Nouveau style was called in Spain) is a way of life, a perfect combination of architecture, art, philosophy and culture. Inside the house live birds, flowers, butterflies, dragonflies, chandeliers and furniture carved with the elegance of what it’s built to last. Each room is like that mosquito preserved in amber that conserves an exact moment of the history of Sóller. Paintings by the great masters of the 19th and 20th century cover its walls, giving colour and life to a building that was born in 1911 and which, without knowing it, was one of the standard-bearers of the modernist movement in Mallorca. Since its arrival to the world, it has been both a beginning and a destination.
The curves of its lines make us think of waves and seaweed. Its high ceilings of the lofty palaces of Sintra and Trieste. Because this is a home to be dreamt of and lived in. Can Prunera finds its raison d’être in the soft and sparkling stained glass, in the watery dance of the hydraulic tiles woven together by a myriad of symbols and myths that invite us to explore.
HISTORY
The best ART nouveau house in Sóller Since 1911
Can Prunera, along with other examples such as the Gran Hotel, Can Forteza Rey and Can Casasayes, all three in Palma, are part of the large group of modernist buildings that were built at the beginning of the 20th century under the guidelines of catalan architects and french Art Nouveau.
In 1865, a terrible plague destroyed the orange and lemon trees in a large part of the Sóller valley, causing a severe economic crisis. Thousands of families were forced to emigrate to South America and Europe. Countries such as Puerto Rico, Venezuela, France, Germany and Belgium were the forerunners in receiving emigrants from Sóller. Even so, it was mainly in France where most of them went to seek their fortune; to this end, they settled in towns such as Nancy, Lyon, Marseilles and Belfort. It was in this city where Joan Magraner and Margalida Vicens, known in Sóller by the nickname of ‘Prunera’ -‘Plum tree’- due to their work in the fruit trade. They became rich thanks to the business dedicated to the import, export and distribution of fruit, vegetables and liquors. Once they had made their fortune decided to return to Sóller and build a house in the commanding and prevailling fashion of the moment: Art Nouveau.
Can Prunera was built between 1904 and 1911. Nothing is known about the architect, although there are two hypotheses: one attributes the work to Joan Rubió y Bellver (1870-1952), the catalan architect who in those years was building the façade of the parish church of San Bartolomé and the Bank de Sóller. However, there is no document to confirm this theory. The other hypothesis suggests the possibility that the Can Prunera manor house was built by local masons.
The building is an exponent of the taste of the emigrants who, on their return from France and Puerto Rico, competed to build the most beautiful house that would show off the wealth they had achieved.
Hydraulic Tiles
DID YOU KNOW THAT?
Each room containes a different paradise within reach of our gaze and footsteps. The colourful patterns of each of the handmade tiles, combining tradition and modernity, create unique and unforgettable canvases. The colorful tiles dress up the dream because every detail counts. The halls, rooms, corridors, nooks and crannies of Can Prunera show us an attractive sinuosity. Mythical figures, tamed but free nature and a striking ornamentation, force us not to tiptoe around them but to stop in the moment, to embrace it. Painting, craftsmanship, architecture, design, mathematics, history and beauty, all in a 20 x 20 cm tile.