The Art and Life of Joaquín Sorolla (1863-1923)

The Master of Light, Joaquín Sorolla, was the most famous Spanish artist of his day. His unique paintings of the intense light of the Mediterranean are probably his best-known works, but he also had a period during which he painted more serious works, like this painting from 1899 entitled Sad Inheritance, showing some crippled children bathing at the sea in Valencia under the supervision of a monk. It earned him the grand prize at the World Fair of 1900. But his artistic success did not come easy. Sorolla already became an orphan when he was two years old, and he would be raised in Valencia by his aunt and uncle. Initially, he followed the pretty traditional path as an artist, trying to paint according to the standards of the Spanish art academies and by studying the old masters at the Prado Museum. Things went well, and he had received a four-year grant to study painting in Italy. But in 1887, at age 24, he failed to win a prize at the Madrid National Exhibition, and it made him reconsider his artistic vision. He decided to move out of Rome, where he was surrounded by academic artists, and moved to the small town of Assisi. He married Clotilde, who you can see in several of his other works, as she would be his muse. This work from 1888 shows her as a saint, and Sorolla would actually carry this painting along for most of his life, as it shows up in the photographs of various of his studios. Anyway, the young couple would spend a full year in Assisi, where Sorolla would develop his artistic views that would guide him for the rest of his life. In Assisi, he abandoned the warm, traditional colors of academic painting and decided to use fresh and bright tones instead, something that was inspired by the Impressionist artists of the day. And in addition to the traditional use of oil paint, he also started to experiment with watercolor paintings at this time, helping him to develop his feeling for capturing the sunlight. The basic idea of Sorolla's art is that he only captures what he can see with his eyes, and so what we see on the canvas is his recording of the world. He would eventually have his biggest success with painting the intense light of the Mediterranean coast, especially near his hometown of Valencia. He painted his works outside, and one fun fact about that is that it is not uncommon to find grains of sand embedded in his paintings. With his reputation slowly on the rise, he tried to make it onto the international stage as an artist. In 1895, he exhibited The Return from Fishing at the Paris Salon, the largest art exhibition in the world. It's a painting made in his native Valencia, measuring some two and a half by four meters. It shows a couple of oxen pulling a fishing boat out of the water, and it would be a big success. Viewers were mesmerized by the way he captured the feeling of the Mediterranean with lively brushstrokes. They could almost feel the wind in the sails, and Sorolla captured the experience of the bright southern light in a spectacular way. He received the highest distinction for it at the Paris Salon, and it was bought immediately by the French state for an enormous sum of 6,000 French francs. In hindsight, this painting is often labeled as the first real Sorolla, as these kind of naturalistic scenes from the Mediterranean have become one of his trademark themes, as you can see in some of these works showing the fishermen in Valencia, or just people walking along the shore. The success of The Return from Fishing brought him fame, and with that came many commissions. People suddenly asked him to paint portraits of them. Sorolla was not very fond of portrait painting, but the amount of money he could earn with it was irresistible. So while Sorolla did not consider portrait his real strength, as he preferred to paint outdoors and more creative scenes, he did actually start to paint quite a large number of portraits from then on. Just as a comparison, here are two portraits by Sorolla. The one on the left is a commissioned one from the American president William Taft, and the one on the right is just a hobby project as he painted his wife. You can see the more formal and stiffer version on the left, and the more free-flowing portrait of his wife in an evening dress. He had one advantage though, as he was used to painting outdoors which required him to paint quickly compared to painting in a studio. He was a very productive painter, so he still had time to make other works for which he is better known today. In 1911, Sorolla got the biggest commission of his life, known as the Vision of Spain, consisting of 14 enormous murals for the Hispanic Society of America in New York City, where these works are still on display. The initial idea was to paint the history of Spain, but Sorolla stayed true to his own style and specialty, and decided to capture the customs, costumes, and traditions of the different regions of Spain. He would travel to each region, having people dress up in the traditional clothes of that region, capturing the laborers and locals, as well as the landscape and a part of their culture. And all but one of them was painted outdoors. During his life, Sorolla was a famous artist in the Western and Latin parts of the world, and his works would sell to people across the world. So there is a decent chance that you may find a museum not too far from you carrying one of his works. But if you really want to absorb his art, there are two places that I can recommend. First, the Museum Sorolla in Madrid, Spain. Just like the Gustave Moreau Museum in Paris about which I talked a few weeks ago, they have turned his former home into a museum full of his works and some works of his family members. The other place I can recommend is the Hispanic Society of America in New York City, a museum located on Upper Manhattan. Here you can find all his enormous murals related to the visions of Spain. Well, I hope you enjoyed this discussion of the art and life of Joaquín Sorolla, a unique artist in our history. If you did, please hit the thumbs-up button and subscribe, and I hope to welcome you in some of my other videos soon. Thanks for watching!