SCULPTURES Fundacion Bartolome March CALA RATJADA Sa Torre Cega Gardens - Cala Ratjada - Mallorca
Sa Torre Cega was one of the favourite family residences Leonor Servera, Bartolomé March´s Mother where she enjoyed spending long summer periods with the family. Capdepera was also her native village. Mrs. March was a person of remarkable artistic sensibilities and altruism. The garden was one of her favourite pastimes and she was the drive behind the first landscape remodelling of this house which the architect Guillem Forteza undertook. Bartolomé March inherited his inclination for Art and especially his interest in gardening from his mother. In the reform he undertook, he kept very much in mind this aspect and he created the modern gardens which have brought fame to this location. He contracted the great English landscape gardener Russell Page (1905-1985) who reformed the whole garden. Later, the landscape gardener Leandro Silva Delgado (1930-2000) was his successor.
Gabriel Alomar Esteve (1910-1997), an architect who was familiar with Italian gardens and worked in various residences of the family, also participated in the garden. As a spectacular complement to the exquisite planted spaces, such delicate and harmonious creations, the collection of contemporary sculptures was integrated into the park, an audacious association and providing a surprising aesthetic contrast. In 2001, a storm destroyed part of the gardens and ripped up hundreds of trees. Since then a patient and rigorous rehabilitation work has brought back the splendour of the Sa Torre Cega gardens.
One of the principle collections that the Foundation posesses is the collection of XX century sculpture. Part of it – about twenty pieces – is installed in the head office in Palma and the main body is found in the Sa Torre Cega gardens (Capdepera). In fact, the villa was in the recreational villa where Bartolomé March brought together the acquired modern and contemporary sculptures, with the intention – ahead of its time in the sixties and seventies – of installing a magnificent natural scenario that is the garden that surrounds the house. In this way this daring idea boosted the spatial impact of the works and established a stimulating dialogue with the surroundings. The personality of the collector, a modern man, cultivated and a passionate art seeker is reflected in the repertoire of the collection. It is an eclectic mix - with figurative and abstract works - at the same time experimental, especially in regard to the richness of the textures. A plethora of prestigious artist is represented in the collection, such as Xavier Corberó, José Manuel Alberdi, Agustín Cárdenas, Francisco Otero Besteiro, César Montaña, Eusebio Sempere, Martín Chirino, Juan de Ávalos, y José María Sirvent, among others.