Sorolla

"Maria dressed as Valencian Peasant Girl" (detail)
(c) Sorolla 1906

Meet the greatest Impressionist painter you have never heard of---Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida. Sorolla, for short.

"Bathtime, Valencia"
(c) Sorolla, 1909

Sorolla was born in Spain in 1863. His talent was evident early on, and by age 30 his paintings had been in international exhibitions in Madrid, Paris, Venice, Munich, Berlin and Chicago. He won a medal of honor at the Paris Universal Exposition of 1900, and was nominated as Knight of the Legion of Honor. Interestingly, though he achieved such great recognition during his lifetime, he is largely lost in obscurity today. I hope that exhiibts such as the current one described below will change that.

The Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University in Dallas has mounted a large exhibition of Sorolla's paintings, on view until April. (After that it will travel to San Diego, then to Madrid, Spain). How I wish I could see these paintings! Not only does the show feature a number of Sorolla's masterpieces, it also includes his studies for some of the larger paintings. Now this is what a fellow painter really wants to see--the process behind the masterworks! I quote Rick Bettell, art critic for the Dallas News:

Another canvas, from 1908, Running Along the Beach, is shown alone in a small gallery surrounded by six preparatory drawings, which show how Sorolla rehearsed his gestures and poses before commencing to paint them with such confident élan. These drawings are as fine as any figure drawings of the late 19th century and add a new dimension to our understanding of the artist.

"Running Along the Beach"

(c) Sorolla 1908

Sorolla may be what we call "a painter's painter". If you thumb through any recent issue of Plein Air Magazine, you are likely to find several of today's featured painters who cite Sorolla among their key influences. Such talents as Kevin Macpherson, Richard Oversmith, West Fraser and Marc Hanson all name Sorolla as an influence.

"Garden Grotto, Alcazar de Seville"
(c) Sorolla, 1910

I love the fact that Sorolla painted all sorts of subjects with equal ease and élan. From landscapes to portraits, from peasants to aristocracy, it seems as if he could do anything. And like all greats, he made it look so effortless! But we know from his studies (see above) that much behind the scenes work was done to lay the ground for the bravura strokes that would make the finished painting.

"The Old Man of the Cigarette"
(c) Sorolla 

Perhaps one reason Sorolla has influenced so many of today's plein air painters is his insistence on painting outdoors, from life. I will leave you with a Sorolla quote: "As far as outdoor work is concerned, a studio is only a garage; a place in which to store paintings and repair them, never a place in which to paint them."

"A Street in Granada"
(c) Sorolla, 1910