A Sorolla in the FUNDOS Collection

Puerto de Pasajes was created by Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (Valencia, 1863) around the year 1904.  

Traditionally, it had been titled Rincón de Vizcaya and was dated around 1899 in various catalogs.  

However, evidence suggests that this painting must have been completed around 1904, based on a preparatory sketch (cartón) that Sorolla painted that year depicting the port of Pasajes, a coastal town in the province of Gipuzkoa, which he visited during the summer.  

The sketch, preserved at the Sorolla Museum in Madrid, shares the same composition as this painting: the strong diagonal of the dock structures the scene, dividing the landscape into two planes—the sea and the land.  

In the sketch, the fishermen and the women with children observing them from the dock are not yet present, but the landscape, composition, and distinctive atmosphere of the painting are already established.  

Sorolla painted several similar sketches in Pasajes in 1904, likely using them as references to complete paintings, possibly in his studio, shortly thereafter.  

In any case, we can confirm that this work belongs to the Valencian artist, as it is signed in the lower right corner with his characteristic signature: “J Sorolla Bastida.”