Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (Spanish painter) 1863 - 1923
Born on February 27, 1863 in Valencia, the city in which he would begin his artistic career, first in the School of Arts and Crafts and, later, enrolling at the School of Fine Arts of San Carlos at the age of fifteen. Following his participation in the Regional Exhibition of Valencia in 1879, he travelled to Madrid where he presented three marinas at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts and made copies of paintings by Velázquez in the Prado Museum. Sorolla is awarded his first gold medal in the Valencia Regional Exhibition in 1884 and a medal at the 2nd National Competition of Fine Arts with El Dos de Mayo, a canvas whose theme is historical. He receives a student grant at the Spanish Academy in Rome for his painting The Cry of the Palleter. Once in Rome, he spends a few months in Paris with his friend Pedro Gil visiting exhibitions Bastien Lepage and Adolf Menzel. In 1887, he submitted as the final work for the student grant, Father Jofré protecting a madman pursued by children, thus earning him an extension of the grant. In 1888, Sorolla married Clotilde García in Valencia and after his return to Italy, he stayed at Assisi. After completing his training, Joaquín and his wife moved to Madrid, where he joined the painter José Jiménez Aranda and achieved the highest official distinctions with works on social themes: They still say that fish is expensive and Sad legacy. After winning in the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1900, the themes on the sea, beaches and nature would gain importance in his pieces where he tried to capture fleeting moments of light. This led to a continuous and gradual research of light in his works. Georges Petit Gallery in Paris in 1906 was Sorolla’s first solo exhibition, which earned him great public and critical success. The experience was repeated the following year in Berlin, Düsseldorf and Cologne and in 1908 he inaugurated the exhibition at Grafton Galleries in London where he made friends with Archer Milton Huntington, who suggested that he should bring his work to New York. After his New York success, the exhibition travelled to Buffalo and Boston and in 1911 his works were exhibited in St. Louis and Chicago. Following his agreement with the Hispanic Society to paint a series of large canvases representing aspects of Spanish provincial life, which he would work on from 1912 to 1919, Sorolla travelled to Mallorca and Ibiza in the summer of 1919 where he painted his last view of the Mediterranean. Shortly after his return to his home, he suffered a stroke which would permanently disrupt his painting career. He died, three years later on August 10, 1923 in Cercedilla (Madrid).
