Catalogue

Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida was one of the most beloved and appreciated artists of his day. In 1908, he was hailed as “the greatest living painter in the world” for his extraordinary technique and the pleasing nature of his subjects, rising to a level of fame that very soon went well beyond national borders. Joaquín Sorolla: Painter of Light recounts the extraordinary stylistic development of this ambitious and determined painter, who made art his reason for living. Sorolla’s magnificent and passionate artistic journey was one of joy, suffering, satisfaction and research. His main pursuit and innovation in painting was the study of light, rigorously captured from real life and en plein air, gradually evolving into an immediate, spontaneous and sophisticated language. Joaquín Sorolla (1863–1923) was born in Valencia, Spain, a city to which he returned throughout his life. His fame as a painter was established by 1890, with exhibitions in Munich, Paris, Chicago, Vienna, Venice and Buenos Aires. By 1900, he was considered as the most famous of all living Spanish artists; his work paved the transition from Impressionism to Picasso.