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Lot Essay
Following the success of Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida's successful exhibition in Paris in 1906, he and his family retreated to Biarritz, the seaside resort which had become the destination of choice for well-to-do tourists, among them many 'madrileños'. It was a hub of social activity, frequented by illustrious people like the Kaiser and the Prince of Wales; the Spanish Royal family and their court spent the summer in nearby San Sebastian.
Biarritz provided an exciting location for Sorolla as he was tirelessly inspired by the surrounding people and their activities. Mauricio López-Roberts, Marqués de Torrelaguna (of whom the artist painted a portrait) wrote in an article describing the artist's working methods: '...Passing through the crowds in the shops, under the parasols and between the open umbrellas that would turn inside out on the 'Gran Playa', Sorolla would be in constant pursuit of subject matter for his impressions. The eyes of this painter, wide open, decisive and watching objectively like the eyes of a mariner or of an explorer, saw far and saw all, getting excited as he contemplated the aspects of movement and light upon the waves and the strong shades that darkened on the golden sands of the beach. Sorolla took no pleasure from life unless he was painting at least two, three, or four studies daily while at the same time planning major future works; all the exuberant fructification of a generous talent, never fulfilled, that produces with the easy simplicity of a natural force. Here, in Biarritz, he never relaxes...Hours and hours he was on the beach...in the sand, among the boulders, on the edge of the foaming waves, amongst the cosmopolitan visitors that wandered infront of the marvellous sea of Biarritz with distinguished indifference...' (M. López-Roberts cited in Joaquín Sorolla: Vida y Obra, pp. 249-250).
It was on these shores that Sorolla painted the majority of his charming little oil sketches (known as 'apuntes'), at the same time as some of his major works. The cosmopolitan scene here was so different than the experience that he had at other beaches, like Valencia, as the beautiful ladies wandered upon the shores shading their faces from the sun with beautiful parasols, the men in their colourful bathing suits, the fishermen, the sea; all the paraphenalia that the artist required to paint some of his most alluring apuntes and most impressive canvases.
This particular 'apunte' is dedicated to the artist's friends, the Urcola family, whom he had painted a number of times.
Biarritz provided an exciting location for Sorolla as he was tirelessly inspired by the surrounding people and their activities. Mauricio López-Roberts, Marqués de Torrelaguna (of whom the artist painted a portrait) wrote in an article describing the artist's working methods: '...Passing through the crowds in the shops, under the parasols and between the open umbrellas that would turn inside out on the 'Gran Playa', Sorolla would be in constant pursuit of subject matter for his impressions. The eyes of this painter, wide open, decisive and watching objectively like the eyes of a mariner or of an explorer, saw far and saw all, getting excited as he contemplated the aspects of movement and light upon the waves and the strong shades that darkened on the golden sands of the beach. Sorolla took no pleasure from life unless he was painting at least two, three, or four studies daily while at the same time planning major future works; all the exuberant fructification of a generous talent, never fulfilled, that produces with the easy simplicity of a natural force. Here, in Biarritz, he never relaxes...Hours and hours he was on the beach...in the sand, among the boulders, on the edge of the foaming waves, amongst the cosmopolitan visitors that wandered infront of the marvellous sea of Biarritz with distinguished indifference...' (M. López-Roberts cited in Joaquín Sorolla: Vida y Obra, pp. 249-250).
It was on these shores that Sorolla painted the majority of his charming little oil sketches (known as 'apuntes'), at the same time as some of his major works. The cosmopolitan scene here was so different than the experience that he had at other beaches, like Valencia, as the beautiful ladies wandered upon the shores shading their faces from the sun with beautiful parasols, the men in their colourful bathing suits, the fishermen, the sea; all the paraphenalia that the artist required to paint some of his most alluring apuntes and most impressive canvases.
This particular 'apunte' is dedicated to the artist's friends, the Urcola family, whom he had painted a number of times.