Before coming back to Germany I stood in London for a few days...kind of a culture shock after another month in the bush. ^^ Anyway during those days I visited the Sorolla exhibition in the National Gallery and it literally blew my mind. I hadn´t seen paintings of him before, but I found out that he is called the "master the light" for good reason! The exhibition is absolutely fantastic. The originals displayed were mind-blowing and took my breath away in some cases. Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida is a Spanish impressionist painter who lived around 1900. His paintings are mainly bright filled with light and warmth and his brushwork is just amazing! The exhibition was divided into five rooms each of which rather dark with perfect lighting to compliment the beautiful oil paintings. "My children" was hanging in the second room and immediately drew my attention upon entering. The vivid reds left me speechless. Moreover, the level of illusion in both paintings created by Sorolla´s use of colour and brushwork is stunning. From further away the pieces look coherent and logical, but when getting up close they don´t have nearly as much detail as you might have thought...absolutely masterful. A few pieces really caught my eye among which "Sewing the Sail" (excerpt in the photo) and his portrait of his children "My children" from 1904. I can highly recommend visiting the exhibition or getting to see one of his paintings in real life not only because any digital image won´t even get close to the brilliance of light that is transferred when you see the original. Nevertheless, you can find a small selection of his work here. I hope you got something out of my marvelling song of appreciation! And if not...thanks for reading anyway. ;)
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