Any 1831
The Valencian military José María Torrijos, Minister of War in constitutional times and exiled to England by the chains of Ferdinand VII, returns to Spain from Gibraltar to lead a rebellion that overthrows absolutism. He is forty years old and is accompanied by half a hundred men on the boat. But someone betrays them. They are addressed by the neptune. The rebels are forced to disembark on the coast of Fuengirola. They are captured, detinguts, companies and, later, on the beach of San Andrés in Màlaga, Torrijos and the six 52 companies of rebellion are afusellats. Sense judici. At the dawn of his wife’s death, Torrijos wrote to his wife, “My beloved Luisa.” He wrote: “I am going to die, but I am going to die as the brave die. You know my principles, you know how firm I have been in them and when I am going to perish I put my lot in the mercy of God, and I value in little the judgments that people make.” He wrote: “I wanted to be a victim to save others. I fear that I have not achieved it; but that does not make me regret it. From life to death there is only one step and I am going to take it calmly in body and spirit.” Even if the ink is fresh, it will be afusellat.
Any 1886
. He has to paint a huge picture that exemplifies the defense of freedoms against cavernous absolutism, and the subject of the picture will be the shooting of General Torrijos and his followers. The painter is young: 34 years old. He lives in Paris. He is liberal. He has already painted I executed ittion of the commoners of Castile. The epic of freedom and the fight against tyrants. And this is how he takes the brushes and paints blindfolded men executed on the arena, but above all he paints the emotional reaction of those who are going to be shot. He paints anger, fear, tenderness, pathos, resignation, prayers to heaven, last hugs. Paint life and death. Arbitrariness. The obedience of executioners. The assistance of religious accomplices. Paint the sense of commitment. Take the revolutionary epic to the end. the end
Any 1974
A has already been shot. In a few months, the last five sentenced to death by the dictatorship will be executed. The incredible Valencian artistic tandem of Equipo Crónica—Rafa Solbes and Manolo Valdés—take the brushes and intervene on Gisbert’s work. They cover the eyes of all the condemned with a black stain and incorporate the police files of the 52 shot at the top. They can be those shot yesterday, today, tomorrow. Torrijos and 52 mores. The dictatorship continues. The death penalty too.
Any 2026
I see the painting by Equipo Crónica at an anthological exhibition in Xàtiva (Chronicle of a time) with 50 of his works. there it is It is 1.80 x 2.20. impress I’m alone I stand in front of the painting every minute I can. I think about the shot people I’ve read about, the ones I’ve been told about, the others I’ve sometimes imagined. That final trance. This week is April 25, even if some want to hide it. There are cultural undoings that time does not heal. There are moral undoings that curse to return. Long live the chainsand time flies.
