The late 19th century was the age of great exhibitions.
Sorolla understood that, by sending his most
ambitious works, he would be able to establish not only Spanish, but international reputation.
By 1900, having been awarded prizes across Europe, Sorolla can be considered as the most
famous of all living Spanish artists.
He always wanted to have his wife with him,
to feel her presence all the time and, of course, the children.
When he was travelling, he would write daily to his wife and, very often, they sent flowers
inside the letters.
Every year, Sorolla returned to Valencia, returned
to the beach which provided him with an endless series of motifs to paint.
He would come here because he loved this very intense light and a very broad horizon that
is so characteristic of his work.
In 1908, Archer Milton Huntington, the founder
of the Hispanic Society in New York, visited an exhibition of Joaquín Sorolla in the Grafton
Galleries in London. Mr Huntington then offered Sorolla the opportunity
of an exhibition in New York - an important step forward in Sorolla’s carreer.
In 1912, Sorolla received the important commission from the Hispanic Society of America to paint
a series of very big canvases to decorate the library.
It became his all-consuming project for the next several years. He travelled relentlessly
across Spain getting every detail in place.
Unfortunately, Sorolla never saw the mural
cycle installed in New York. He was incapacitated about 18 months after he finished.
In the morning of 20 June in 1920, Sorolla was painting in the garden and he had a stroke.
He never recovered; he died three years after.
When Sorolla died in August of 1923, he was
buried like a state hero - his body transported in a cortège by train to Valencia, where it
was greeted by thousands and there, in his home town, he was buried in full state pomp.