Next Thursday, August 10, will be exactly 100 years since Valencia’s most universal painter. Joaquin Sorolladied at Cercedilla in the Sierra de Guadarrama (Madrid). Throughout 2023, many exhibitions and events to mark the so-called Year of Sorolla. These initiatives help remember life and The prolific career of the ‘Lord of Light’: going through the less studied aspects of her work, from her origins to her mature stage.
Sorolla survived more than 4,000 images He started to practice from a young age when he was educated. Craftsmen Schools And in San Carlos Royal Academy of Fine Arts. His trips to Rome proved decisive – on a scholarship Valencia City Council– and to Paris to drink from the impressionists and naturalists. Despite his desire to internationalize, Sorolla occasionally returned to Valencia, his ‘muse’ and whose light permeates many of his works. Courtesy of his other inspiration: Clotilde, his respected wife, as can be read from the letters he sent her while he was away from his family home in Madrid.
Sorolla was a tireless traveler. He visited Europe, Spain and the USA., victorious in many cities, including bustling New York. They showcase their most mammoth work there: Panels “Vision of Spain”a commission for the Hispanic Association, which put his health to the limit until his death in 1923. We examine some of his vital moments through his works.
Critical value of the palletizer. 1884
Joaquín Sorolla painted this painting at the age of 21 to apply for the Diputación de Valencia scholarship in Rome. The historical theme is not one of the most common in the Valencian artist’s production, but it was necessary to achieve retirement. The provincial organization gave him his first chance as a young painter. With 3,000 pesetas in pocket, young Sorolla went to live in the Italian city to squeeze in a life-changing experience. The work can be seen at the Palau de la Generalitat.
burial of Jesus. 1887
This work was a failure for the painter. Sorolla with “The Tomb of Christ” (oil on canvas 92 x 62 centimeters) Received the second medal at the Madrid National Exhibition This award was not enough for the Valencian painter, and he also did not hesitate to destroy his work, one of the few religious scenes he painted. Of these, only a few fragments and previous works are preserved.
sad legacy 1899
“The Sad Legacy” is one of Sorolla’s best-known works. With this he received the Grand Prize of the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1900 and celebrated his national and international blessings. At first he considered naming the work “Children of Pleasure”, but his friend Vicente Blasco Ibáñez advised him to change the name. It forms part of the Bancaja Foundation collection.
My family. 1901
Joaquín Sorolla often traveled to Spain and abroad. Despite these shortcomings, surviving correspondence reveals that he was a very familiar man who was constantly taking care of his wife, Clotilde, and their three children, María, little Joaquín and Elena.
The boy in the hat. javea 1905
Joaquín Sorolla has been to Xàbia many times for inspiration, to meet the light of the Mediterranean and its landscapes. to stay Sorolla’s 1905 article in Xàbia He was a catalyst for the painter’s most recognizable style to reach maturity. An example is «The Boy in the Hat. Javea» (above).
Clotilde in a gray suit. 1908
Joaquín Sorolla was always aware of his family, especially his wife, Clotilde, who is the protagonist of many of his works, despite his busy professional life that constantly pushes him to travel. More than 2,000 letters were written in their 35 years of marriage. “You are my flesh, life and brain”Sorolla wrote to him. “It seems that God has truly united us, because I only dream of being with you and for you,” she told him in another.
Walk by the sea. 1909
This job Sorolla in its purest form. Here, the painter depicts his wife carrying an umbrella with their daughter María. The duo wanders carelessly along the coast of Valencia. This painting was made in the summer of 1909, after Sorolla’s fourth international exhibition at the beginning of the same year in various cities in the United States.
The children are on the beach. 1910
If there is one thing that characterizes Joaquín Sorolla, at least in his collective imagination, it is seaside paintings and children playing on the shores of the Mediterranean. “Boys on the beach” is the best example of this. This work can be seen in the Prado Museum.
Spain Vision. 1913-19
In London, Sorolla met American philanthropist and Hispanist Archer Milton Huntington, who helped exhibit it in New York. It was such a success in the United States that Huntington Hispanic Community of America 14 regional panels “Vision of Spain”Conducted between 1913 and 1919. This gigantic project had consequences for the exhausted painter’s health.
Portrait of Mabel Rick. 1920
portrait one of the most popular types by Sorolla. Mabel Rick’s is particularly interesting because in the summer of 1920, a few months after finishing “Visión de España,” Sorolla had hemiplegia while painting it. The caregiver and her husband were in the garden of her house, accompanied by the writer Ramón Pérez de Ayala. Three years later, she died before she could paint again.
Bath time. 1904
Synonymous with Joaquin Sorolla auction house success. The Valencian painter is one of the most requested names in sales worldwide. The most requested nautical and costume prints by collectors. The painting “La hora del baño”, which was sold for 5.3 million euros, became the most expensive Sorolla in history.