Juan Ramón Jiménez

Born in Moguer, in Andalusia, Juan Ramón Jiménez became one of the most influential Spanish poets of the 20th century. His work moved from early richly musical verse toward a more stripped-down, searching style, always focused on beauty, memory, and inner life.

He published many books across a long career, but many readers first meet him through Platero and I, his tender and poetic portrait of a donkey and the world around them. In 1956, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature, which recognized the lyrical power and artistic purity of his writing.

The years of the Spanish Civil War forced him into exile, and he later lived in the United States and Puerto Rico with his wife, the writer Zenobia Camprubí. His poetry remained deeply admired after his death in 1958, and he is still seen as a major bridge between Spanish modernism and later modern poetry.