Àngel Guimerà (Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 1845 - Barcelona, 1924) was a playwright and poet.

He began his literary career as a poet, was declared Mestre en Gai Saber ('Master in the Art of Poetry') in 1887 and presided over the 1889 Jocs Florals (Literary Contest) in Barcelona. His first tragedy in verse Gal·la Placídia (1879) is situated within the romantic-historic tradition. With his Mar i cel (Sea and Sky) of 1888, he had an unprecedented success, the work being translated into eight languages which brought the author into the international arena. This work was the beginning of his most productive period which would last until 1900, a period in which most of his representative works were staged: Maria Rosa in 1894 and Terra baixa (The Lowlands) in 1897, along with La filla del mar (Daughter of the Sea) in 1900, which were brought more than once to the cinema screens. These works portray, with realistic touches, life in Catalonia at the time. In 1889, he was elected President of the Lliga de Catalunya and his political speeches made all over Catalonia are collected in the volume Cants a la pàtria (Hymns to the Nation) of 1906. In 1909 he was given a multitudinous popular homage. He was an early member of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans (1911).



Bibliography: Eva M. Villar.
Documentation: AELC.
Up-date: Heura Marçal.
Photographs:© Casa Museu Àngel Guimerà.