Caroman

Caroman (born Adrián Caroman, 1898-1944) was a Brunanter painter, widely considered to be the best of the 20th century.

Early life
Caroman was born to a Jewish Barzuna family on a farm in rural Cape Cross Parish. His ancestord had left Spain in the early 1500s, during the time of the inquisition and had since resided in Cape Cross. Early on, his father hoped for him to continue running the family farm, or perhaps even working in his uncle's packing business in Brezonde. But, young Adrian wanted to become an artist. After frequent arguing he left his home at the age of 17. He moved to Cape Cross in 1915 and moved in with a cousin, working as a busboy at a local cafe to help pay the rent.

Painting career
Around 1918, he began sketching people and selling his work for 2 Thalers. People recognized his talent and he was soon getting more clients. His first "real" painting was that of a local couple; he managed to make 10 Th. from it. By 1925, his style became more cubist, and this gained him even more attention from the art community. By 1930 he was making about 200 Thalers/painting, which was quite significant. He participated in various exhibition throughout Europe, mostly in France and Italy. In 1935 he painted what is his most famous work, The Black Widow. It was a portrait of a widow (Lucretia) who always dressed in black, since her husband's death in the 1920s.

WWII and death
When Germany invaded Brunant, Caroman went into hiding, since his prominence could compromise him and since he was also jew. He stayed at the house of "the Black Widow" with her and her daughter (who was married to a Jew). Here he began to do paintings with hidden messages aimed at assisting the Underground Revolution. On several occasions the Nazis searched the house but could not find anyone. In 1944, the Nazis got ahold of one of his paintings and were looking out for him. On July 28, 1944 the SS stormed the house and killed all the occupants, including Caroman. His body was lost and was never recovered, but after the war a gravestone was erected in the local cemetery in his memory.

Legacy
In 1954 a plaque was erected outside the Black widow's house to make the place where he died. In 1971, Lucretia's son donated the house to the city, who turned it into the Caroman Museum.

Caroman paintings have gotten very valuable over the years, with many being worth in the 10s and even hundreds of thousands of Euros. In 2007, his most valuable piece was sold for 564,000€.