We recently have an unforgettable image of Patti Smith. A picture to remember forever because that concert she gave in October 2025 at the Teatro Real in Madrid was exquisite and summarizes the qualities of an artist who today, Wednesday, was awarded the Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts 2026. She came out on stage dressed as Patti Smith: black pants, boots, a white T-shirt, a dark jacket and her hair proudly grayed. He celebrated 50 years of his masterpiece, Horses, and he performed it in its entirety, but at the same time that show was many things: a courageous, vindictive, poetic, beautiful recital. And punk: he even spit on the stage (of the Teatro Real!) in the fervor of People Have the Power. A compendium of what Smith (Chicago, 79 years old) represents could be enjoyed in that venue. By the time the recital ended, the 1,600 spectators would have given him the Princess of Asturias, the Nobel Prize and even the keys to his house.
Perhaps we should remember right now that Patti Smith made an unusual decision in the world of music at the time, and even today: after four albums, in 1979 she moved from New York to Detroit to start a family with her great love, Fred Sonic Smith, guitarist of the obligatory MC5. She spent almost ten years taking care of her family (two children), away from the public spotlight, although she did not leave poetry, drawing and songwriting. But in private, while he watched his family grow. In 1988 he returned with the album Dream of Life.
She was never an easy artist to classify, and that honors her in such a monolithic cultural framework. He moves fluidly between the genres of music, poetry, photography and visual arts. Smith has published a dozen books and as many albums, which have won awards and recognition. He has, among others, a National Book Award, a Medal of the Order of Arts and Letters of France or a for the sake of honor by Columbia University. The author is also famous for her activism, against wars, in favor of Palestine or, among other causes, so that the gardens on Elizabeth Street in New York were not destroyed. Published last year in Spanish angel breadhis definitive memoirs.
“Writing is lonely. Acting is the opposite: it is collective, it is electric, it is communion. I love both, but they come from different parts of myself. When I write, I am building something in silence; when I act, I am sharing what I have built. I could not live alone as a performer. Writing keeps me grounded; it is where I understand things. Acting is where I celebrate them,” he told EL PAÍS SEMANANAL last October.
Smith grew up as the eldest of four children in a humble family. His mother was a waitress and his father was a machinist, but both with artistic inclinations. She was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness, began working at age 10, between farming fields or caring for children, and moved twice in her youth with her family: from her native Chicago to Philadelphia and then to New Jersey. He discovered poetry at the age of 16, thank you The illuminations, by Arthur Rimbaud, whom he has adored ever since. He became a Bob Dylan fan when his mother saw him in a store. Another Side Of Bob Dylan (1964) and gave it to him as a gift. Later, Dylan would become a fan of her.
At 19, she became pregnant by accident, was kicked out of university, and ended up giving her baby up for adoption. In the face of so many difficulties, he has said on some occasion that he had the revelation that he would be an artist, and things would be fixed. So she settled in New York, without money or certainties, and set out to make a living: she composed poems, wrote music reviews, took photographs, worked as a waitress. It was the New York of punk. And he met the photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, first his friend, then his lover and always his creative partner. Between the two they created an artistic partnership without restrictions. Anything went as long as they were both excited. Whether it caught on with the public later was another matter.
It is known that his first concert took place in 1971 in a church. She and guitarist Lenny Kaye improvised on distorted sounds and poetry inherited from the generation beat. It was on that occasion that he recited “Jesus died for someone’s sins, but not for mine,” with which he opened his debut album, Horses. Kaye, by the way, is still playing with her after 55 years, in one of the longest and most fruitful partnerships in rock. Mapplethorpe was the author of the famous cover of Horses, an androgynous black and white image of her, with a defiant look and posing “Sinatra-like” with her jacket over her shoulder. The album was published in 1975, when punk began to emerge, and she was included in that movement. Her challenging attitude fit perfectly with the movement: Patti kicked the amplifiers and spat at the audience, but her poetic flight went far beyond the pogos that were organized at CBGB, the New York venue where the movement was hardened.
He continued publishing interesting albums until his retirement with his family. In 1994 her husband, Fred, died. Sonic Smith, at 46 years old, which led her to a deep depression. It was thanks to friends like Michael Stipe, leader of REM, that he managed to return to music. It is worth reviewing his albums from the 2000s, muted, like almost all of his discography, by the long shadow of Horses. But jobs like Trampin’ (2004) o Banga (2012), the last one, contains those poetic and angry pieces so typical of him.
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