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Dimensions: 49 by 59cm., 19 1/4 by 23 1/4 in.
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Provenance: PROPERTY OF A EUROPEAN PRIVATE COLLECTOR
George Woodward (purchased in the New York exhibition of 1909)
Jennings James, Fairfield, Connecticut
Eunice Coe, Greenwich, Connecticut
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Exhibited: New York, The Hispanic Society, Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida at the Hispanic Society of America, 1909, no. 335
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Literature: Hispanic Society of America, Eight Essays on Sorolla, New York, 1909, no. 335, illustrated
Bernardino de Pantorba, La vida y la obra de Joaquín Sorolla, Madrid, 1970, p. 192, no. 1667, catalogued
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Notes: The flapping magnificence of the unruly billowing sail, the inert massiveness of the serried ranks of beached boats, the long shadows cast across the sand in the foreground and the brilliance of the sun overhead combine in the present work to depict a coastline and a local way of life that became Sorolla's signature tune: the beach at Valencia. Single-handedly Sorolla gave a face to a place that few had previously marked of note, celebrating a landscape and fishing community that quickly captured the popular imagination both within Spain and abroad.
Painting en plein air Sorolla revelled in Valencia's fresh coastal breeze and brilliant sunshine, embuing the sails of the central fishing boat in the present work with a splendour and significance of form that elevates the subject matter far above its humble origin. Such scenes had occupied Sorolla ever since his first success with La Vuelta de la Pesca which had been shown at the Paris Salon of 1895 and bought by the French government to hang in the Luxembourg Palace.
Despite living and working for all his professional life in Madrid, Sorolla returned to his native Valencia with enthusiasm year after year, exploring new motifs and capturing the daily rhythms of its fishing community. Describing his work there in a letter to his wife Clotilde, Sorolla eulogised: 'Today I have continued drawing [painting], every time I am more enamoured of nature, so much so that between the sea and the splendid sun I think my happiest days are those on the beach.'
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