Joaquín Sorolla (born in Valencia 1863 - died in Cercedilla 1923) is one of the most successful Spanish painters ever. He was a genius in capturing the essence of the scene he was painting. In Joaquín Sorolla Portraits 2 1900 -1910 Sorolla becomes a celebrated portrait painter. Following the success of his one man exhibitions in France 1906, to a lesser degree Germany 1907, England 1908 but especially the USA 1909 portrait commissions flooded in. But even before Paris Sorolla produced a large number of portraits. Many of his most important sitters were male, but Sorolla did exquisite female portraits as well. Among his most successful portraits were those of female sitters whom he invariably imbued with an elegance and beauty that rank them alongside the portraits of his contemporaries Giovanni Boldini, Anders Zorn and John Singer Sargent.

Valencian master Sorolla's Impressionist paintings depict the most beautiful gardens and architecture in Spain. Like Claude Monet's celebrated plein air landscapes at Giverny, the series collected in this book represents among the best-loved examples of Joaquín Sorolla's (1863-1923) work, and a window into the Spanish painter's quest to capture the essence of a garden. Described by Monet as "the master of light," Sorolla and his landscapes, formal portraits, and historically themed canvases drew comparisons to contemporary American painter John Singer Sargent. Sorolla had achieved renown on both sides of the Atlantic for grand scenes of Spanish life when he began a personal series of garden works, presented completely for the first time in this publication. Painted at the palaces of La Granja and the Alcázar in Seville, the Alhambra and Generalife in Granada, and at the painter's home in Madrid, these Impressionist works allowed Sorolla to apply his signature loose brushwork and training as a photographer's lighting assistant to gardens and the sculptures, architecture, and sitters that frame and animate them. Sorolla depicted reflections in fountains and pools, the sunlight dappling his glamorous sitters, sprays of orange blossoms, and shaded blue-and-white tile as he endeavored to render the radiant peace of a summer afternoon.

A painter of vast pieces in his early days - works intended for salons and national exhibitions - Joaquin Sorolla (Valencia, 1863-1923) very soon developed a style of outdoor painting of his own which, though not connected stylistically with the Barbizon School, nevertheless pursued the same postulates, as a result of which he came to be known as a Spanish Impressionist painter. He began to devote himself entirely to this practice in 1900, painting landscapes, views of cities, studies of nature, seascapes and garden scenes in which he demonstrated his tremendous skill in capturing the effects of light. Joaquin Sorolla is unquestionably an essential book for anyone interested in the Spanish Impressionists, and the most complete work of reference on this artist from Valencia. It includes an insightful and in-depth essay by Blanca Pons-Sorolla and some 300 reproductions of his most important pieces.

Published on the occasion of a major retrospective, this gorgeous new survey focuses on the paintings related to the years Joaquín Sorolla spent in Paris. A native of Valencia, Spanish Impressionist Joaquín Sorolla (1863–1923) first went to Paris in 1885 as a young artist at the age of twenty-three. He exhibited at the international salons, winning the Grand Prix at the Exposition Universelle in 1900, and in 1906, he exhibited for the first time at the Galerie Georges Petit, one of the principal galleries of the Impressionists. The exhibition was a resounding success and helped establish Sorolla’s international reputation. Known for his vigorous compositions, unusual color palette, and loose, radiant brush strokes, Sorolla’s sun-drenched landscapes, beach scenes, and luminous portraits even impressed such contemporaries as Claude Monet. Richly illustrated and with newly researched essays by noted scholars, this important book reveals much new information about Sorolla’s activities and relationships with other artists in Europe. Included are more than one hundred paintings reflecting the artist’s career, from his early work in Paris in which the influence of the French Impressionists is clearly evident, to the distinctive pictures that reflect his mature and celebrated style.

Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (1863-1923) studied painting from the age of 15 in his native Valencia, then in Madrid and eventually Rome. On his return to Spain, he became the major portraitist of his time, and worked with subjects including King Alphonso and Queen Victoria Eugénie. Like John Singer Sargent (1856-1925), whose career was unfolding on American shores, Sorolla remained firmly outside of the Impressionist vanguard and was all but indifferent to other popular artistic movements of the day, but nevertheless achieved international renown in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Both artists focused on society portraits but also undertook independent work and commissions for cultural institutions. They encountered one another occasionally, and held one another in very special regard. Sargent & Sorolla highlights the affinities between not just their personal and professional lives but their work itself: the expressive use of color and light, the development of a Modernist sensibility from Naturalist techniques, and the tremendous renown and commercial success each man reached independently. An essential exploration of how the careers of the two great artists ran parallel to each other, intersected, and also diverged.

* Volume 1 of Joaquin Sorolla's catalogue raisonné is the first part of the culmination of a project initiated by Francisco PonsSorolla and Blanca Pons-Sorolla, which assembles all currently known works by the painter - some 4,000 pieces. This first volume is dedicated to the collection of the Sorolla Museum in Madrid, SpainJoaquin Sorolla's catalogue raisonné is the culmination of a project that was initiated by Francisco Pons-Sorolla and Blanca Pons-Sorolla, which assembles all the work of the painter known so far (over 4,000 works). The aim of this project is the publication of five volumes in which the works by Joaquin Sorolla Bastida (1863-1923) will be presented by themes: 1. Sorolla Museum; 2. The Sea and the Beach; 3. Portraits; 4. Landscapes; 5. Composition Works. Within these themes, the works will be presented chronologically, so that the evolution of the painter can be observed in each case. This first volume of the catalogue is dedicated to the collection of the Sorolla Museum, which houses the largest collection of the artist's works. It displays a comprehensive panorama of the painter's oeuvre through 1,300 pieces. The project is currently being financed by the Sorolla Museum Foundation, and is being carried out by Blanca Pons-Sorolla, with the collaboration of Teresa Jiménez-Landi and Mónica Rodríguez Subirana. Since the beginning of the project in 1987, a profoundly better understanding of Sorolla's work has been achieved.