Self Portrait (1904) by Joaquín Sorolla y BastidaSorolla Museum
Sorolla is the best-known Spanish painter of his time. A tireless worker, he achieved great notoriety during his lifetime, and his work stood out both on the national and international scene. He dedicated his entire life to painting, capturing light and beauty on his canvases without artifice.
Early life
Joaquín Sorolla Bastida was born in the Spanish city of Valencia in 1863. Two years later, his parents died in a cholera epidemic that devastated the city. Sorolla and his sister were adopted by their maternal aunt and uncle.
The slave and the dove. Nude (1883) by Joaquín Sorolla BastidaSorolla Museum
Training
Sorolla began to show a talent for painting from a very young age. In 1885, he entered Valencia's School of Artisans, which was part of the San Carlos Royal Academy of Fine Arts. His early works explored maritime, classical, and folkloric themes.
Copy of a fragment of "Portrait of Queen Mariana of Austria" by Velázquez (1882) by Joaquín Sorolla BastidaSorolla Museum
A fascination with Velázquez
During his youth, Sorolla visited Madrid. He made an obligatory stop at the Prado Museum, where he saw works by the great masters of painting. One of these was Velázquez, whom he greatly admired and whose work he copied several times in the early years.
The altar boy (1885) by Joaquín Sorolla BastidaSorolla Museum
A trip to Rome
In 1885, Sorolla was awarded a residency in Rome by the government of Valencia (Diputación de Valencia) for his painting El grito del Palleter. In the years that followed, he lived in the Italian capital, as well as in Assisi (a hilltop town in Umbria, to the north). He also traveled to Paris, where he became familiar with the dominant artistic scene at the time.
Clotilde
In 1889, Sorolla married Clotilde García del Castillo, daughter of Antonio García Peris, who had supported the Valencian painter in his early years. Clotilde would become his wife, the mother of his three children, and a great supporter of his work.
White Slave Trade (1895) by Joaquín Sorolla y BastidaSorolla Museum
Social realism
In the last decade of the 19th century, Sorolla developed a great interest in social realism. The prevailing theme in European galleries at the time, social realism focused on the dramatic aspects of the most disadvantaged social classes.
Maturity
After receiving the Grand Prix for his painting Sad Inheritance! in 1900, he met painters such as Sargent, Zorn, and Boldini in Paris. From then on, he made numerous trips around Spain to experiment with the changing light in various places.
My children (1904) by Joaquín Sorolla y BastidaSorolla Museum
Sorolla the portrait artist
Sorolla also produced portraits, including ones of this family. They convey his affection for his loved ones and have an intimate feel, as well as clearly being inspired by Velázquez, as seen in the work Mis hijos (My Children).
After Bathing (1915) by Joaquín Sorolla y BastidaSorolla Museum
Light—the sacred artist
During this period, he painted some of his most iconic beach scenes. The artist focused his attention on bathing children and adolescents, studying the sun on the bathers' skin, reflections in the water, and shadows on the sand.
Visions of Spain
In the fall of 1911, US philanthropist and scholar Archer Milton Huntington commissioned Sorolla to produce 14 panels with the title Vision of Spain<i>,</i> for the library of the Hispanic Society of America. He made various preparatory studies for these panels while traveling around the peninsula.
General view of the Sorolla House (1914) by CampúaSorolla Museum
Their new home and Clotilde's exceptional legacy
In 1911, Sorolla and his family moved to their new house in Madrid. It is now the Sorolla Museum, thanks to his wife Clotilde García del Castillo, who bequeathed the family home and workshop—along with most of the master's paintings and artistic objects—to the government, in 1925.
Portrait of Mrs. Pérez de Ayala (1920) by Sorolla Bastida, JoaquínSorolla Museum
The final era
In 1920, Sorolla was in his garden painting Mabel Rick Darkhell, wife of the writer Pérez de Ayala, when he suffered a stroke that caused him to fall down the steps. The painting was left unfinished and Sorolla would never be able to hold a brush again.<br>
The funeral procession in the station of Valencia (1923) by CampúaSorolla Museum
Death
In 1923, the painter died at his daughter María's house in Cercedilla, near Madrid. News of his death spread throughout the country and large numbers of people joined the funeral procession, including political figures and members of the general public. Sorolla was buried in his hometown, Valencia.
This story was created in 2023 to mark 100 years since Joaquín Sorolla's death.
