25/03/21 - A house built in 1910, a few steps from Paseo de la Castellana in the Chamberí neighborhood in Madrid, used to be the permanent home of Joaquín Sorolla (Valencia, 1863-1923) and his family. Today it has become a museum thanks to the generosity of his widow, Clotilde, and it preserves numerous paintings, the original furniture and the artist's studio, just as he left it.

Self-portrait, by Joaquín Sorolla (1910)

Technique: oil on canvas / Measures: 54 x 41 cm

Niñas en el mar, by Joaquín Sorolla (1909)

Technique: oil on canvas / Measures: 150 x 150 cm

Sorolla's production is known for its vibrant colors, which reflect the Mediterranean luminosity in a successful combination of whites and blues. The movement of water and the light that passes through can be frequently found in the artist's works.

Joaquín Sorolla

Sorolla Museum

Bajo el toldo, playa Zarautz, by Joaquín Sorolla (1910)

Technique: oil on canvas

Paseo a orillas del mar, by Joaquín Sorolla (1909)

Technique: oil on canvas

The walks along the sea and the scenes with his family demonstrate the elegant life that both Clotilde and their daughter María led, faithful representatives of the bourgeois leisure of the early 20th century.

Joaquín Sorolla

Sorolla Museum

The most iconic paintings of this artist, which reached exorbitant prices in the 70s at Sotheby’s, are those of children with no clothes in the open air. It is explained that it was his way of demonstrating the social differences between the groups that coexisted on the beaches of France and Spain. The children were orphans from the Hospital de San Juan de Dios and several of them were disabled, however, more than the shapes of the bodies on the sand, Sorolla's skillful technique is highlighted to reflect the colors, the purple shadows and the sparkles of the light.