MASTER OF MEDITERRANEAN LIGHT AND COLOUR
Joaquín Sorolla (Valencia, 1863 – Cercedilla, 1923) is one of the most widely acclaimed masters of painting from the turn of the century due to his capacity to revolutionise and innovate in his use of light and colour.
Having created images of a bright and optimistic Mediterranean at a time when a gloomy outlook prevailed, Sorolla can be regarded as the most poetic painter of his time, who made the great outdoors his infinite studio and the people his model.
A tireless painter, he never stopped exploring and experimenting with his use of light, bequeathing to us more than 4,000 works in a wide variety of themes and formats.
Self-portrait, 1909
Sorolla Museum
“Art bears no relation to ugliness or sadness. Light is the life of everything it touches; so the more light there is in painting, the more life, the more truth, the more beauty it will have.”
“What I would like is not to get so emotionally worked up, because after a few hours like today, I feel worn out, exhausted, I can’t cope with so much pleasure, I can’t bear it like before, because painting, when you feel it, is better than anything, I misspoke, what’s beautiful is what’s natural.”