51 ~ Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida

Las Tres Velas - click to enlarge

Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida, one of my favourite Spanish painters was born in 1863 in Valencia, Spain.

After studying in Madrid, Rome and Paris, he returned to Spain, lived in Valencia, where he married, had three children, and later moved to Madrid.

Seen above, Las Tres Velas (The Three Sails), painted in 1903 and one of his most famous works, depicts three fisherwomen with empty baskets and long skirts leaning into the wind ahead of the fishing fleet behind.

Niños A La Orilla del Mar 1903
(The Young Amphibians)

His seashore paintings are well known for the luminosity and his creative treatment of sunlight and water. In the above painting one almost feels the warmth of the Valencian sun radiating from the picture.

Another favourite subject of Sorolla was depicting the oxen as they pulled fishing boats in to the Valencia shoreline.

Playa de Valencia (Beach at Valencia)

And here below, women sewing sails on a sun-drenched patio. Again he portrays sunlight in such a way that one feels the intensity emanating from his paintings.

Cosiendo La Vela (Sewing The Sail) 1896 (above)

And below - Strolling Along The Seashore:

Paseo a Orillas Del Mar 1909

Despues del Baño (After the Bath) 1916

The Wounded Foot 1909

His early paintings reflected a social consciousness which was seen in his 1892 painting Otra Margarita (Another Marguerite) which won him a gold medal at the national exhibition in Madrid and later in 1899 with Triste Herencia (Sad Inheritance) depicting crippled children bathing in the sea at Valencia, which won him the Grand Prix in Paris 1900 and the medal of honour the following year in Madrid.

Here is a complete biography on the informative website which shows his works and allows reproduction without lucro of the same.

The paintings of Joaquin Sorolla are seen in museums and galleries throughout Spain, Europe and America as well as in private collections.
He died in 1923.