Ponferrada,
There have been several exhibitions dedicated to Sorolla that in the last two years, and in various Spanish museums, they have reviewed different facets of their production coinciding with the centenary of his death, reminding us that, beyond clichés, the Valencian artist not only worked next to the sea and that, even when he did, it is possible to extract enough layers of reading his beach scenes: in addition to Mediterranean light Sociological, sometimes critical, for a while and a place.
The last of these samples closed its doors in April in the Gallery of Real Collections and reviewed the whole of his career and his thematic roads and the most recent can be visited until next October in Ponferrada. Organized by the City of Energy Foundation (Ciuden) in collaboration with Light Art Exhibitions, it is host of the cultural thermal of that Leonese town and has been curated by Concepción Fernández and Alicia Vallina.
Under the title of “Sorolla through light. From tradition to modernity”, it brings together forty of its paintings next to typical costumes and jewelry that in some cases were part of their compositions and two technological spaces conceived to bring the details of their brushstrokes and themes from audiovisual, virtual and sensory resources.
Among the sorollas gathered, some are unpublished in Spain: The network, portrait of Federico Suárez either Duel. They stand out for the geographical disparity of its realization, within our country: the earliest –Landscape of Valencia, Puerto de Valencia and Flower study– They date from 1881, when the artist was 18; Several of the pieces collect landscapes and Leon motifs, such as León Cathedral, Plaza Mayor either Maragateríaall three from the Sorolla Museum of Madrid, currently closed by rehabilitation and expansion work; and a third group corresponds to well -known works of this author for its naturalistic treatment of compositions and light experimentation: sea and beach scenes and portraits. In addition to that center, about twenty museums and collections have lent works to this exhibition.
Remember that the completion of the fourteen panels entitled as Vision of Spain For the decoration of the Hispanic Society Library in New York, on behalf of Archer Milton Huntington, he allowed him to refine his observation of types, clothing and popular customs in a time when some of them already tended to disappear.
This assembly is completed, as we said, with a sensory room and a virtual reality that could already be seen in Madrid and Valencia, in the exhibitions that commemorated the centenary of their death.
The sensory room has a multipant system LED of ultra high definition, produced by Light Art exhibitions, which collects its fundamental works and seeks to allow exploring its strokes, recreating the murmur of the waves and emphasizing the textures of the embroidery and clothing of their pieces. In its elaboration, photographs and press articles, drawings and personal writings have also been used.
As for the virtual reality room, it intends to lead the public, as if it were a time tunnel, at the time of sorolla by the hand of state -of -the -art devices. Also to his workshop and the beach of La Malvarrosa, where he walked with his wife Clotilde and his daughters.
The ultimate purpose of this exhibition is to present ourselves to Sorolla as a witness attentive to its time, capable of observing it at the same time with sensitivity and lucidity and to bring to its production both the traditions that survived and modernity making its way, in the form of new options for industrialization or transport and the birth of leisure activities.
After training at the School of Artisans of Valencia and in the photographic workshop of Antonio García Peris, and letting himself be impressed by Velázquez in the Prado, he carried out lifting nature and small floral still lifes before immersing himself in the beach themes and the sailor customs paintings that would make him famous.
Especially during his veranos in San Sebastián, Jávea and Asturias, he represented those outdoor leisure scenes, focusing on the reflection of the sun in the waters and bodies, using spontaneous and loose brushstrokes that generated dynamism impression. Sometimes they worked in small formats, applying quick and fastened brushstrokes trying to capture the fundamental of their motives; Even in the latter, the light is the protagonist.
As for his portraits, he led to culminating seven hundred, although he never wanted to be considered a specialist in that genre: they posed for him aristocrats, bourgeois, millionaires, intellectuals, friends and who were not so much. The feminine printed, above all, refinement; To the masculine, psychological depth and, to all, a speed in the execution that did not always please. In general, we can say that he unfolded more freely in those who gave those who knew well.
Finally, in his tours of Spain preparing his compositions for Hispanic Society, we know that he walked through Astorga and stopped in León, who visited his market in the Plaza Mayor and photographed women dancing and selling their products naturally. He moved to his canvases, from a purpose not too distant from that of snapshots, Salamanca types and women of the pool with his traditional clothing.
His friend Blasco Ibáñez said of him that, in reality, I did not paint, but stole the light and colors to nature.
“Sorolla through light. From tradition to modernity”
The cultural thermal
Energy Street, 2
Ponferrada, León
From May 30 to October 13, 2025
