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The “Courtyard of Miracles”: Violeta Parra in Geneva
Violeta Parra met Gilbert Favre on 4 October 1960, during his stay in Chile, where he accompanied and assisted the Swiss archaeologist Jean-Christian Spahni on a scientific expedition to the Atacama Desert. Someone suggested to Gilbert Favre, who was interested in Chilean folk music, that he should contact Violeta, who by this time, was already well-known. While passing through Santiago, he met her, and they immediately became a couple. This event was the beginning of a very important period in Violeta’s life, leading her to move to Geneva, where she lived from the end of 1962 until 1965. It was a brief but particularly prolific time in her artistic development.
Violeta Parra in her studio in Geneva, with Gilbert Favre, 1964 © Fundación Violeta Parra
During that time, Violeta lived at number 15 rue Voltaire, in an old, abandoned, and partially ruined house with a courtyard that had once housed stables and sheds. The house lacked basic services like running water and electricity, so Gilbert improvised a clandestine connection (Herrero, 2017: 390). A stove in the middle of the main room heated the entire house. The couple lived frugally. However, their home was a meeting place, and given its unique atmosphere, regular visitors dubbed it “the Courtyard of Miracles”. Here, Violeta wove tapestries and worked on her music.
According to Claudio Venturelli, who was close to Violeta at the time, every Saturday she invited her friends, students, and acquaintances for lunch. She asked guests to bring something to drink, and she cooked porotos for everyone. Music and singing were a key part of these shared moments.
Violeta travelled between Geneva and Paris on numerous occasions, where she often performed in bars like La Candelaria and L’Escale, a renowned venue for Latin American music.
“Casamiento de negros“ (“Black wedding“), by Violeta Parra [excerpt]. Recording made in Paris in March 1956. Chants et danses du Chili I, track A4 © and ℗ 1956, Le Chant du Monde. AIMP S17-1
“Dicen que el aji maduro“ (“They say that ripe chilli peppers“) (cueca), by Violeta Parra [excerpt]. Recording made in Paris in March 1956. Chants et danses du Chili II, track A4 © and ℗ 1956, Le Chant du Monde. AIMP S17-2
Violeta’s life in Geneva was characterized by a profound sense of community. She had a large group of friends, some of whom she met through her partner, Gilbert Favre, or she herself had met in Chile. They helped her transport her tapestries to exhibitions, set up the stage for her concerts, and spent Saturday afternoons in her company. She was also surrounded by her children Ángel, Isabel, and Carmen Luisa, and her granddaughter, Tita, Isabel’s daughter. The family often performed in Switzerland and Paris. Numerous press articles attest to her many concerts, including a series in March 1963 with the “Violeta Parra Chilean Ensemble” at the Théâtre de la Cour Saint-Pierre in Geneva.
It was some time earlier, in 1959, while suffering from hepatitis, that Violeta had begun creating tapestries. In Switzerland, her artwork was particularly well received, and she exhibited on several occasions from 1962 onwards at the Galerie Connaître, located on Boulevard des Philosophes, where she also gave cueca workshops. She performed several times in Lausanne. In June 1963, she gave a concert organized by the student association of the University of Lausanne at the Aula de Bethusy, and the following year, in 1964, she exhibited her arpilleras (tapestries) at the Galerie des Nouveaux Grands Magasins (Lausanne). For her, combining music and tapestry was nothing extraordinary: she believed that the two activities complemented each other quite naturally. When she planned an exhibition, the opening always featured a musical performance, whether with family or on her own.
Vaud Cantonal Archives, PP 886 H 1/2 P 3, Jean-Pierre Grisel “Parra Violeta, artiste chilienne“, 1964
Vaud Cantonal Archives, PP 886 H 1/2 P 3, Jean-Pierre Grisel “Parra Violeta, artiste chilienne“, 1964
In 1963, shortly before her first visit to the MEG, undoubtedly in early June, to deliver excerpts from her field recordings, she exhibited her tapestries at the University of Geneva and performed, as previously mentioned, at the Théâtre de la Cour Saint-Pierre. At this time, Violeta Parra was already a figure of some renown in Geneva. This period of work culminated in a major event in her career: her tapestry exhibition at the Musée des Arts décoratifs in Paris in 1964. The show attracted the attention of the Swiss press, which praised her multifaceted artistic activities.
In 1965, towards the end of Violeta’s time in Europe, journalist Marie-Madeleine Brumagne produced the documentary entitled Violeta Parra for RTS (Swiss Radio and Television), a valuable record of this creative period. It was widely broadcast all over Switzerland, as may be seen by numerous advertisements in the press in Lausanne, Fribourg, Zurich, and Geneva. Violeta also exhibited her arpilleras at the Galerie Edwin Engelberts, where she left her belongings before returning to Chile. Although she had intended to come back and was in discussions concerning a possible exhibition at the Musée d’art et d’histoire [Museum of Art and History] of Geneva (MAH), she never returned. After her death, it was her brother Nicanor who retrieved her affairs from the Engelberts family.
