Strolling the Valèncian shore with Sorolla’s paintings: 2 Ladies

In the first of this weekend’s two articles, I showed how the Valèncian artist Joaquín Sorolla painted the arduous lives of fishermen working from local beaches, during the 1890s. Although he had been taught by Ignacio Pinazo, who had probably depicted Malvarrosa Beach for the first time in 1887, Sorolla doesn’t appear to have started to paint such scenes for a few years into the twentieth century.

Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (1863–1923), Afternoon Sun, Beaching the Boat (1903), oil on canvas, 299 x 441 cm, Hispanic Society of America, New York. WikiArt.

His large Afternoon Sun, Beaching the Boat (1903) is another scene of fishermen working hard with three teams of oxen to bring a fishing boat ashore, in the spirit of Return from Fishing, and there’s still not a well-dressed young lady in sight.

Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (1863–1923), Isla del Cap Marti, Jávea (1905), oil on canvas, dimensions not known, Museo Sorolla, Madrid. WikiArt.

In 1905, he travelled south from València to paint another view of the rocky coast there, at Isla del Cap Marti, Jávea.

Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (1863–1923), The White Boat, Jávea (1905), oil on canvas, 105 x 150 cm, Private collection. WikiArt.

The White Boat, Jávea, with its skilful use of broken reflections and underwater views, came from the same summer campaign.

Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (1863–1923), After the Bath (1908), oil on canvas, 176 x 111.5 cm, Hispanic Society of America, New York. WikiArt.

Then by 1908, fishermen and the hindquarters of oxen were replaced by After the Bath, again on the beach at València.

Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (1863–1923), Beach of Valencia by Morning Light (1908), further details not known. Wikimedia Commons.

His Beach of València by Morning Light, again from 1908, shows mothers taking their children into the water on El Cabañal beach, València, with his favourite fishing boats in the background.

Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida, Strolling Along the Seashore (1909), oil on canvas, 200 x 205 cm, Museo Sorolla, Madrid. WikiArt.

In 1909, he painted another of what had now become his signature works on the beach at València, Strolling Along the Seashore. Although novel to Sorolla, he may have been influenced by prior art, for example in the painting below from one of the Danish Impressionists who had gathered at Skagen in Denmark.

Peder Severin Krøyer (1851–1909), Summer Evening on Skagen’s Southern Beach (1893), oil on canvas, 100 × 150 cm, Skagens Museum, Skagen, Denmark. Wikimedia Commons.

Just as French Impressionism was born on the beaches of northern France, so the movement spread around the world on its sand coasts, under the warm light of the sun. Danish Impressionists like Peder Severin Krøyer gathered to enjoy a Summer Evening on Skagen’s Southern Beach from 1893, one of a series of similar views painted by Krøyer on this remote strand at the northern tip of Jylland (Jutland), the northernmost part of Denmark.

Théo van Rysselberghe (1862–1926), La Promenade (1901), oil on canvas, 97 × 130 cm, Koninklijke Musea voor Schone Kunsten van België / Musées Royaux des Beaux Arts de Belgique, Brussels, Belgium. Image by Rlbberlin, via Wikimedia Commons.

Others had travelled south to the Midi to do the same. Théo van Rysselberghe’s Divisionist La Promenade (1901) captures the rich light of one of the beaches in the south of France.

Beach paintings had come of age at last.