Sorolla’s Paintings: The Embodiment of Love

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Reprint of 2005 Editions of Joaquin Sorolla by Blanca, Pons-Sorolla, arriving this week.

Running Along the Beach

Joaquin Sorolla’s paintings are the embodiment of love. He saw love in all his Spanish people, in the land, the sea, the families, the children, and the blinding, sparkling sun of his birthplace, Valencia. Not only did he see it, he captured it on huge canvases, plein aire, and alla prima most often with large brushes with 3-4 foot handles. The oils were applied with huge strokes, rapidly–just in the right spot—while wearing a spotless shirt, tie, dress suit, spats, dress hat, often a cigar all with total focus and complete humility.

He identified his two greatest loves as his art and his wife. He travelled with specially prepared images of her and wrote often. He wrote in 1907, after 20 years of marriage, “You are my flesh, my life, my reason. You fill the void of my life as a man who knew not the affection of a father or mother before I met you. You are my perpetual ideal. Without you nothing matters.” His art expresses the same love, empowering it.

Three Studies of a Man’s Head

Joaquin Sorolla (1863-1923) was one of the greatest natural painters of all time. Born in Valencia, this Spanish painter was active mainly in his native town and in Madrid. He was a prolific and popular artist, working on a wide range of subjects – genre, portraits and landscapes – and his bravura style marked by luminous colouring and vigorous brushwork earned him a considerable reputation throughout Europe and America. He was also a highly sought after portraitist.

Early in his career Sorolla mainly portrayed history and social scenes before developing his own plein-air painting from the 1900’s onwards, painting townscapes, garden scenes, nature studies, seascapes and beach scenes with an extraordinary ability of capturing light. From 1901 to 1905 he created 500 works adhering to his ideal of ‘natural painting’. From these paintings came the body of work shown in a series of shows in Paris, Berlin, London, New York, Saint Louis and Chicago. Sorolla was then commissioned to create a multi-panelled work entitled Visions of Spain for the Hispanic Society in New York. He laboured on this from 1912-19 after which time he painted very little. He died in 1923.

This new, extensively illustrated monograph, written by the artist’s great granddaughter, provides a comprehensive overview of his work including a fully illustrated chronology.

Fisherwoman With Her Child

CLARIFICATION: There are five books on Sorolla that were written by Blanca Pons-Sorolla, or partially written, by her. The first book-Vida y Obra- (Life and Work) was written in Spanish in 2000. This 750 page hard cover book, of the highest quality – blue cloth cover and blue cloth slip cover—is out of print and is available for $650-750 by a limited number of book sellers.

In 2005/6 Ms. Pons-Sorolla produced two smaller books –342 pages in hard cover and in soft cover. The hard cover has an upper torso image of Maria in a grey green top. The soft cover has Maria in a long white dress.

The reprint we are offering is identical in content to both of these books and has the little boy in the water with a white fishing boat on the cover.

Transporting Grapes

One additional book, Visions of Spain, was published in 2007 for the Hispanic Society of New York. This book features the Murals he painted for the Society. It has 14 pull out posters of the Murals and is spectacular. I have sold several hundred copies.

In 2009, in conjunction with the Exhibition in Madrid for Sorolla, the Catalog was produced and is now out of print and is selling for $350 in the after market.. I sold over 300 of these for $129. I managed to find the last 25 books at a much higher cost in the US and have 8 left at $199.

So if you already have the 2005 first editions you have no need to buy the reprint unless it would be a gift. I have the first reprints in the US, as I did the Catalog, and I think they will be available for about 6 months because only a very limited number were printed in English. But, if you don’t have the Catalog of the Prado show, buy it FIRST. There is less than 15% duplication of images between the two books. Then buy the reprint. If you are a collector, buy the Visions of Spain—featuring the murals—then the original book, la Vida y Obra, in Spanish.