Alicante pays tribute to painter Emilio Varela with a statue on the Esplanade

Alicante has paid tribute to painter Emilio Varela, a disciple of Sorolla and creator of many landscapes of the city and its orchard, with a bronze statue on the Esplanade. Mayor Luis Barcala has assured that the city "settles its debt" with Varela, one of our most prominent painters of the 20th century, and has announced that 2026 will be "Varela Year," coinciding with the 75th anniversary of his death.

This was announced during the inauguration ceremony this Monday of the sculpture that pays homage to the Alicante artist located next to La Concha on the Esplanade. Barcala also noted that after the upcoming expansion of MACA, Varela will have a permanent room dedicated to his work.

The mayor unveiled the sculpture alongside the artist's great-niece Encarna Varela in front of dozens of people from Alicante's cultural and social scene in an event that served to pay tribute to the painter, a disciple of Sorolla, who captured many corners of Alicante and its orchard.

The sculpture is made of bronze and measures 1.70 meters. It represents Varela with a painter's palette and brush in hand as if he were about to immortalize the iconic promenade and its palm trees, a recurring image in his work that he painted from the Real Liceo Casino de Alicante, very close to where the statue is located.

Barcala recalled that Varela is an Adoptive Son of Alicante and that one of the best definitions of the artist was offered by renowned art critic Juan Manuel Bonet, who said that Varela was "a very local artist but with universal reach" while lamenting that "his recognition abroad has not been what he deserves probably because he did not travel to Paris at his time, the nerve center of painting." The mayor also highlighted Varela's relationship with local intellectuals of the "golden age" such as Óscar Esplá, Gabriel Miró, Heliodoro Guillén, and Germán Bernácer.

The Councilor for Urban Planning, Rocío Gómez, explained that the incorporation of this new sculpture in the city "is part of the execution of the new space gained in the last phase of works on the Esplanade, which foresaw the installation of a sculptural work and we decided that this work would recognize Emilio Varela."

The painter's family collaborated with the work by providing photographs of Varela to Capa Esculturas so that the result would be as realistic as possible regarding the clothes and accessories he usually wore, including his hat and glasses. The foundry first carried out a 3D process before using different materials for modeling before incorporating bronze.

Encarna Varela thanked the City Council for this initiative "so that Emilio Varela's figure is present through this sculpture in such an emblematic place as the Esplanade which he walked so many times" and claimed her uncle's figure "the best Alicante painter with his unique identity, light and color." "His work should be visible in Alicante and we must strive to make it so," she said.

Varela was a prolific artist but most of his work is in private hands. During the tribute event, some of them could be seen through a screen. His work has been exhibited several times in Madrid and, of course, in his native Alicante. The largest exhibition was held in 2010 at La Lonja del Pescado exhibition hall where nearly 250 works were displayed, most of them unpublished.