Sorolla is known for his bright, beautiful sun-lit scenes from the beach. An artist from Spain, he is not known very well outside his country and doesn’t seem to be as famous as the Monet or Vincent, but his work is magnificent. I haven’t seen sunlight being captured so brilliantly on canvas before. Apparently, he’d stand on the beach for hours in the sun and compose his paintings.
Sorolla_Return from fishing_1894
Sorolla_Sewing the sail_1896
Writer Peter Saint Andre feels that Sorolla is not really an impressionist : “Sorolla’s style is probably more accurately described as luminism — literally, the painting of light — or even, overcoming all collective categories, simply and uniquely Sorollism”.
Sorolla seems to be extremely humble when he talks about sunlight in his work: “I hate darkness. Claude Monet once said that painting in general did not have light enough in it. I agree with him. We painters, however, can never reproduce sunlight as it really is. I can only approach the truth of it.”
His fundamentals in drawing were extremely strong, having studied art from the age of 14. He dedicated nearly 4 decades of his life to art. He has the same thing to say about drawing that George keeps telling us : “The older I become, the more I realize that drawing is the most important of all the problems of picture-making.”
Most of his work is exhibited at the Sorolla Museum in Madrid or the Hispanic Society Museum in New York. His life is not documented extensively online. Fortunately for us, a French artist Iain Vellacott has documented and dedicated a website to his life and work. Quotes courtesy Iain Vellacott.
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