Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida Biography

  Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (1863 - 1923), Spanish painter, was born in Valencia, and received his art education first in his native town and under F Pradilla, and then in Italy and Paris.

  The first striking success Sorolla y Bastida achieved with "Another Margaret," which was awarded a gold medal in Madrid and was bought for the St Louis Gallery. Sorolla y Bastida soon rose to general fame and became the acknowledged head of the modern Spanish school of painting. His painting of the "Fishermen’s Return" was much admired at the Paris Salon and was acquired by the state for the Luxembourg Museum.

  Sorolla y Bastida's exhibit at the Paris Universal Exposition of 1900 won him a medal of honour and his nomination as Knight of the Legion of Honour. A special exhibition of Sorolla y Bastida painting paintings--figure subjects, landscapes and portraits--at the Georges Petit Gallery in Paris in 1906 eclipsed all his earlier successes and led to his appointment as Officer of the Legion of Honour.

  Sorolla y Bastida is represented at the Berlin National Gallery, at the Venice and Madrid Museums, and in many private collections in Europe and America, especially in Buenos Aires. Sorolla y Bastida painted portraits of King Alphonso and Queen Victoria Eugénie of Spain, and a magnificent portrait group of the family of Don Aurelian de Beruete. Three of his paintings were shown in London at the Spanish Exhibition, Guildhall, 1901.