SOROLLA, Joaquín (Valencia, 1863 – Cercedilla, 1923)
Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida was born in 1863 in Valencia, the son of Joaquín Sorolla, a merchant from Cantavieja (Teruel) and Concepción Bastida. At the age of only two, he lost his parents in a cholera epidemic; he and his sister, Concha, were raised by their aunt, Isabel Bastida, married to a locksmith, José Piqueres.
Sorolla studied at the Trades and Handicrafts School in Valencia and later at the San Carlos Fine Arts Academy of that city. During his student days, he met the photographer Antonio García, who later became his supporter. In 1888, he married García’s daughter, Clotilde, who bore him three children between 1889 and 1895: María, Joaquín and Elena. In 1884 he received a scholarship from the Valencian authorities to study in Italy, where he lived from 1885 to 1889. In 1890, Sorolla settled in Madrid. Over the course of the following decade he worked hard to establish a name for himself, participating in numerous national and international exhibitions.
In 1900, Sorolla won a medal of honour at the Paris World Fair, as did Hener, Kröyer, Zorn, Sargent, Ochardson, Corinth, Israëls, Lembach, Stuys, Alma Tadema, Thoulow, Seraf, Whistler, and Klimt. From this point on, he was in close touch with several of these artists, especially with Zorn, Sargent, and Kröyer. From 1905 the artist began to plan a series of major individual exhibitions, supported by leading dealers and galleries.
The first took place in 1906 in Paris at the Galerie Georges Petit, coinciding with that devoted to Zorn at the Galerie Durand-Ruel.
Sorolla became famous in Paris and as a consequence throughout Europe. After this success, the Galerie Schulte presented a series of exhibitions in 1907 in Berlin, Cologne and Düsseldorf. This time, critical and commercial success was sparse. In 1908, he planned another show in the Grafton Gallery in London, which was organised by the art dealers Chesser, Mundy and Holt and supported by the painters Beruete and Sargent. However, due to incompetent promotion, the exhibition met with a mixed reception. Between 1909 and 1911, Sorolla was in the United States, where he showed his works in several cities. These presentations were supported by the Hispanic enthusiast and collector, Archer M. Huntington, who became Sorolla’s main champion in America, commissioning him to design the Hispanic Society’s library in New York with scenes of the different regions of Spain.
In order to carry out the commission as accurately as possible, Sorolla travelled tirelessly through Spain, an undertaking that badly undermined his health and he suffered a stroke in 1920, which left him incapable of working. He died three years later.
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