Sorolla's Garden Paintings

Perspectives from The Artist's Road

The Gardens of Sorolla’s House 1915-17 Joaquin Sorolla

Still armchair traveling only and anxiously awaiting spring, we decided to visit the garden paintings of Joaquin Sorolla (1863-1923), in the hopes of one day visiting in person his home, studio and garden in Madrid.

Sorolla’s home is now the Museo Sorolla. After the artist’s death at age 60 in 1923 and that of his wife, Clotilde in 1929, the property was bequeathed to the State and opened as a museum in 1932. It is overseen by the Spanish Ministry of Culture.

The home surrounds an open-air patio, allowing light to enter throughout. It has an Andalusian garden, which takes inspiration from the gardens of the Alcazar of Seville (where Sorolla painted often). Sorolla also returned to his home city of Valencia every summer, painting the intense light and ocean horizons of the coast. His love of gardens from Valencia, Seville, Madrid and even from his studies in Rome and Paris can be seen throughout his oeuvre. He p…