F. BANCAJA. Pl. Tetouan, 23
Virtual visit
As Gens Bombs and the Carmel Center, The Bancaja Foundation had to suspend the imminent opening of an exhibition due to the outbreak of the health crisis and thus, in quarantine, has been Sorolla. Hunting impressions until reopening at the beginning of May, more than two months later than planned. Just as it is common to see published diaries and personal letters from great writers that arouse disproportionate interest., We see small paintings by Sorolla on display at the Bancaja Foundation that first served as sketches for great works and later acquired the status of autonomous works. We have seen practically everything from the Valencian painter, so that this most intimate and free facet of his work gives us the excuse to continue exploiting it.. There are about 2.000 oil paintings on boards, posters, papers and canvases that, due to its small format, allowed Sorolla to express the impressionist maxim, this is, capture fleeting outdoor environments with the spontaneity required by speed. The movement of the sun changes the appearance of things every moment, you have to paint quickly! The sample comes from the Sorolla Museum in Madrid and has passed through the Museum of Fine Arts in Bilbao, but its stop in Valencia brings something new such as the incorporation of medium and large format pieces, and small canvases that contain Valencian themes. In any case, size doesn't matter. The brushstroke is fresher, is more liberated, but the essence is the same. On the route you will find barracks and farmhouses of the Valencian orchard, latin sail boats that play with lights and shadows, landscapes, grounds, home scenes with his inseparable Clotilde, and a lot of beach (Malvarrosa, Saint Sebastian, Biarritz and Xàbia) which allowed him to experiment with the behavior of lights, the reflections of the sea and the transparencies in children that practically dissolve in the salt water. “When do I paint?”? Always. “I am painting now while I look at you and talk to you.”. That was Sorolla, an artist who didn't even need a tablet to paint. S.M.
