In the 1905 summer, Sorolla stood firmly as a seasoned artist, returning to his beloved Valencia. On the Malvarrosa beach, brush in hand and an easel set before him, he found the familiar feel of sun-warmed sand beneath his feet. A woman holding a child, with other little ones nearby, gazed as one of the children waded into the Mediterranean. The scene, captured in a vivid imagined print, seems almost true to life, shaped by the light that Sorolla so masterfully channels. The Valencia beach painting, crafted by the master of light, was scheduled to go on sale next week starting at fifty-five thousand euros.
With only a few strokes, the image blurs into a spontaneous impression—likely a preparatory study for another canvas. It may belong to the catalog’s many small-format notes under the heading Color Notes, as described by the Ansorena auction house, which is handling the sale of this intimate work.
Sorolla is represented at Hispanic Society.
With your father-in-law’s cardboard
The dimensions and the distinctive qualities of this piece, 13 by 21 centimeters, reveal that Antonio García, Sorolla’s father-in-law, is the artist behind an oil on photo-cardboard painting that traveled through several major cities, marking a pivotal moment in Sorolla’s international career. Paris and London hosted it in 1908, followed by a showing at the Hispanic Society of America in New York in 1909.
The back bears a black number that matches the 1909 New York exhibition catalog. The red number 334 beneath a button marked 156 in black indicates that this work was sent to the 1908 London exhibition and is listed as 334 in the exhibition records. Though Valencia beach shares its title with the New York show, certainty about its display remains elusive since more works were sent than could be shown, as explained by Ansorena.
Huntington purchased the piece for $100 in 1909
The artwork’s provenance traces to a private Madrid collector. It later surfaced in the Archer Huntington collection after being acquired by journalist James Townsend at the New York exhibition in 1909 for one hundred dollars. Sorolla’s New York exhibition drew immense crowds, drawing roughly 160,000 visitors from February 4 to March 8, 1909. That show gave Huntington access to several of Sorolla’s standout works, including On Bath, 1908; Ox Pulling the Boat, 1903; and Sea Idyll, 1908, as noted in historical summaries of the North American presence.