Caitlin Quinn
TWO of America’s most famous 20th-century artists are to be honored with statues in Ronda’s bullring.
The lucky legends are author Ernest Hemingway and film director, actor and screenwriter Orson Welles.
The statues are 2.5 metres tall and will feature plaques with information about the two men and the town of Ronda. The project, funded by bank Unicaja, is estimated at €18,000.
Welles and Hemingway were both bullfighting aficionados with close ties to Ronda.
They spent many summers in the town and wrote about its beauty and traditions, and Welles’ ashes are buried at the Ronda country property of the bullfighter Antonio Ordoñez.
Welles is best known as the writer, director, and star of the masterpiece Citizen Kane, widely regarded as one of the best American films ever created.
Hemingway is remembered for such novels as The Old Man and the Sea and For Whom the Bell Tolls, the latter of which features a climactic scene inspired by real-life events that took place in Ronda during the Spanish Civil War.
Two American iconoclasts get statues. New beach-head for tourist selfies.
Both were great aficionados of “los toros”. I wonder how long before their image is tarnished?
What a complete waste of money !
I never read about Hemingway spending summers (awful hot) in Ronda before. His former Key West Florida house generates a lot of tourist money for the island city. Did he have a house in Ronda or stay in a hotel? More article info would have been appreciated.
Spain is good at clutching at straws. Look how many Picasso museums there are and the family left when he was 4!