Cristóbal Hoare, the painter who made Capileira his home

Born in Colchester, England, in 1948, Hoare trained at his city's School of Art and at St Martin’s School of Art in London. Before dedicating himself fully to painting, he worked in fields including theatrical set design. In 1976, he arrived in the Alpujarra with Jackie Broekman, an American ceramic artist whom he would later marry. The couple initially settled in Bubión and, years later, Hoare established himself in Capileira.

His arrival coincided with an Alpujarra very different from the one many visitors know today: a rural, remote region with an austere way of life. For a time, Hoare and Broekman earned a living by crafting leather and ceramic goods. Painting gradually occupied more space in the artist's life and, by around 1990, it became the focus of his work.

A landscape lived, not just contemplated

Hoare painted the villages of the Barranco de Poqueira, their streets, houses, and rooftops; he also captured the mountain landscape and the tasks and customs of its inhabitants. In his canvases, the Alpujarra appears as a close and concrete world, yet one transformed by color, light, and imagination.

The artist worked primarily with oil and watercolor; the University of Granada also notes his use of acrylics. His interest in color was central. "Color is a world in itself. Color is magic, it is alchemy," he wrote on his website. In an interview recorded by writer Guy Arthur Simpson, Hoare explained that oil allowed for an intensity of color that was difficult to replace and that, for him, color could be more important than the subject matter itself.

His style combined an impressionistic and warm gaze with an evolution toward more abstract forms. In the exhibition Sueños Caleidoscópicos, organized by the Modern Languages Center of the University of Granada in 2018, this evolution was described as a search for the essential elements of the landscape through color and form. The purpose, according to the exhibition's presentation, was to make visible that which usually remains hidden beneath everyday appearances.

Hoare also left a less conventional mark on the streets of Capileira: he painted signs for shops and restaurants, and his lettering style eventually became part of the village's image. Furthermore, for years he participated in exhibitions with the Colorearte group alongside local artists. The website dedicated to his work lists exhibitions in Vejer de la Frontera, Copenhagen, and Granada, in addition to the exhibitions held with the group in Capileira.

The memory of a neighbor and artist

Cristóbal Hoare died on January 23, 2021, at the age of 72, according to the obituary published by The Guardian. The newspaper highlighted his way of representing Andalusian rural life and recalled that, beyond his paintings, Hoare had become a beloved figure in Capileira.

His bond with the municipality remains present in the town's cultural memory. In 2024, the Arte en la Calle program dedicated a tribute to him as part of its summer exhibitions. It was a way to remember a painter who made the Alpujarra much more than an artistic subject: it was the place where he developed his work and built his life.