Joaquín Sorolla

María Planas de Gil (a gift from the artist to mark her first visit to Valencia with her husband Pedro Gil Moreno)
Pedro Gil Moreno de Mora (husband of the above; Gil (1860-1930) was a keen amateur painter from a well-established Catalan family. Sorolla met Gil Moreno de Mora when he first travelled to Rome in 1885. Gil Moreno de Mora invited Sorolla to Paris the following April, taking him under his wing and introducing him to many of the major artists and collectors of the day. Over the course of their life, the two friends exchanged over five hundred letters, see: Tomás, Garín, Justo, Barón, 2007)
Galería Artur Ramón, Barcelona
Purchased from the above by the present owner in 1974

Blanca Pons Sorolla, 'Pedro Gil Moreno de Mora y Joaquín Sorolla. Historia de su amistad', in Facundo Tomás, Felipe Garín, Isabel Justo & Sofía Barrón, Epistolarios de Joaquín Sorolla I. Correspondencia con Pedro Gil Moreno de Mora, Barcelona, 2007, p. 28, illustrated

Oil on panel. Apart from a handful of small spots of retouching in the left part of the sky and in the tip of the sail, this painting is in excellent original condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Painted on Valencia beach, the present work describes with compelling immediacy the busy scene of fishermen and women surrounding a boat drawn up on the beach filled with the day's catch. The short dabs and dashes of oil paint brilliantly conjure up the swarming sense of commotion as the fish are sold-off and distributed. Above all the activity the sweeping triangular form of the main sail billows out majestically in the wind; to the right a boat lies idle; while to the left foreground a woman carrying a basket bustles up to join the throng.

Sorolla had been recording life on the Valencian beaches for several years, the subject bringing him fame and an ever increasing fortune. His interest in the theme had - at least in part - been inspired by the dictum of Jules Bastien-Lepage who urged painters to paint what they knew, and depict the subjects that were closest to them. The result was a series of canvases that revolved around the Valencian fishing community, featuring such subjects as mending fishing nets, boat building, eating in the boat and hauling in the catch.

As the 1890s drew to a close, however, Sorolla's style became ever more Impressionistic. Gone was the academic hardness of line that he had been schooled on, replaced instead by the style that he had perfected in his rapid oil sketches. This new found technical facility transferred well onto the large scale version of the present oil, which was shown to great success at the Internazionale Kunstausstellung in Berlin in 1899 (fig. 1). Subsequently it was a style that brought him highest honours at the Exposition Universelle of 1900 in Paris, and which earned him the moniker from Monet of 'the master of light'.