Sorolla. Gardens

Edited by Blanca Pons-Sorolla

ISBN: 978-84-949629-6-7

Year: 2018

Pages: 152

Illustrations: 120

Binding: hardcover with dust jacket

Size: 24 x 28 cm.

Published by: Madrid, El Viso Editions

Like Claude Monet's famous outdoor landscapes at Giverny, the paintings collected in this book are considered the most beloved of Joaquín Sorolla's (1863–1923) work and serve as 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 canvases with historical subjects were often compared to the work of contemporary American painter John Singer Sargent. Sorolla had achieved notoriety on both sides of the Atlantic for his grand scenes of Spanish life when he began a personal series of garden works, presented in full for the first time in this publication. Painted in the palaces of La Granja and the Alcázar in Seville, the Alhambra and the Generalife in Granada, and in the painter's home in Madrid (now the Sorolla Museum), these exuberant and colorful works allowed Sorolla to apply his knowledge of lighting and loose brushstrokes to the gardens, flowers, sculptures, models, and architectural elements that frame and enliven them.