Francesc Cambó

Around 1930 everyone wanted to be Francesc Cambó. A true protagonist of Spanish political life, he was the most relevant and modern of the regenerationists, the most influential leader of emerging Catalanism, a brilliant and documented parliamentarian, an effective and innovative minister, and a political writer with true intellectual and historical competence. His ambition led him to imagine a reform and modernization of the state compatible with the existence of full Catalan autonomy. The historical paths prevented him from crowning those great transformations: he could not be either Bismarck in Madrid, or Bolívar in Catalonia and he ended up supporting, from exile, the triumph of Francoism. This important and contradictory political role coexisted with a busy and successful personal and professional life. The first highlights both his tendency to surround himself with intellectuals at his service, and a love life far from the moral standards of the conservative and Catholic bourgeoisie. Of the second, his conversion into an important international businessman stands out, whose enormous fortune, achieved by procedures that are not always clear, allowed him to act as a great cultural patron, donate important paintings to the Prado Museum and the MNAC, finance the translation into Catalan of the Greek and Latin classics, or financially helping compatriots during the civil war. After more than thirty years of dedication, the renowned historian Borja de Riquer offers us the most complete portrait of Francesc Cambó, whose life - complex, contradictory, exciting and unusual like few others - is also the portrait of Spain in the first third of the 20th century , and whose legacy continues to be a benchmark for leaders across the ideological spectrum.