SOROLLA'S PAINTING OF LIGHT
by Joan K. Yanni
Oxen on the Beach (14.8) is on view again! The changes in the late 19th-century gallery have not only produced a lovely golden glow in the room, but have brought back some works not seen recently. The masterful painting by the Spaniard Joachim Sorolla y Bastida is one of these. (Call him "So-roy-a.")
Sorolla (1863-1923) was acclaimed in his day as Spain's most important painter, and, abroad, as the Spanish Sargent. He was influenced by the French Impressionists, but he adapted their style to suit his own. Oxen on the Beach is a light-infused canvas with loose, flowing brush strokes, but the strokes are wide and curving rather than short, staccato points of color. Like the Impressionists, he created line and contour through manipulation of color. Our painting captures the look and feel of bright sun on water and sand. The oxen first catch our eye, then we see that they are straining to pull in a boat. A man sits atop one of the beasts while another guides the vessel. The billowing white canvas and the crest of a wave near the horizon tell us that the day is windy. Two other boats can be seen in the background, as well as a figure crouched on the beach. The brush strokes look freshly painted, as though the artist had just finished his work.
Sorolla was born in Valencia, Spain, in 1863. After his parents died in a cholera epidemic, he and his sister were adopted by an aunt and her husband, who raised them. Sorolla was not much interested in school work, but by the age of 15 he was a full-time student at the Oscula de Belles Artes in Valencia.
He first visited Madrid in 1881 for the Exposicion Nacional de Belles Artes, and there was captivated by the works of Velazquez and Ribera in the Prado. Velazquez's treatment of light and the vigorous brushstrokes of Ribera particularly fascinated him. He won a scholarship to study in Italy in 1885 and the following year spent time in Paris.
Sorolla's paintings up to this point had been realistic interpretations of historical themes, but the stay in Paris changed his art. An exhibition of the work of Jules Bastien-Lepage and Adolphe Menzel, whose work depicted scenes of everyday life, inspired him to sketch and paint the streets, cafés and people of Paris. He began to paint en plein air, spending full days in the hot sun in order to capture the intoxicating beauty of nature, concentrating on the presentation of light. He became one of the first Spaniards to paint landscapes and genre scenes. His first significant international success came in 1900 when he was awarded the top medal at the Exposition Universelle for Sad Inheritance. Upon seeing the painting, Monet is said to have exclaimed, "...and above all else, there is a joyousness of light."
In 1906 Sorolla was invited to exhibit at the Georges Petit Galerie in Paris, which also handled Monet, Renoir, and Degas. His one-man show was acclaimed by the critics, and he became a friend of Sargent and got to know both Monet and Renoir. His admiration for Sargent prompted him to adopt animated, swirling brush strokes. He later described his uninhibited, painterly applying of paint as "making love." Each painting shows the movement of his arm as he created his works. Often edges are left rough for maximum drama. Those who watched him paint said that his pace was “demoniacal.” He went on to exhibit in Berlin, Cologne, and, in 1908, at the Grafton Galleries in London, where the Impressionists and Cézanne had exhibited a few years before. At the London show, he met the American collector Archer Huntington, who proposed that he exhibit at the Hispanic Society of America in New York the following year. His American debut in 1909 was a complete success.
When Sorolla's work was exhibited in New York, over 160,000 people lined up to see it. He attracted similar crowds in Boston and Buffalo. He became known for his mastery of light and vivid color, and for his pictures of sun-soaked beaches, whether in Valencia or on the Atlantic coast.
In 1911, now known internationally, he was commissioned to paint a series of scenes for the library at the Hispanic Society. He worked on these pictures until 1919, using a folkloric approach and recording the costumes and occupations of people from the various regions of Spain. Sorolla came to feel that art should deal with the beautiful rather than the sad and ugly. He said that his best works speak of the sun, the interaction of the sun's rays and physical activity.
Sorolla's output was prolific, but his painting ceased when he was stricken with paralysis in 1920. His last works are marked by greater intimacy and focus on detail, a common theme being his own garden. He died in 1923.
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