The first retrospective on influential Spanish post-Impressionist Joaquín Sorolla to focus on his impact in the United States opens Saturday at the San Diego Museum of Art.
Sorolla was well known in the United States at the turn of the last century, and was invited to paint the first official portrait of President Howard Taft.
The exhibition features nearly 150 works by Sorolla, including the portrait of President Taft, and more than 40 never-before-displayed works. The artwork will be on view through August 26.
Arranged thematically, the exhibition features works representing the subjects and styles for which Sorolla was renowned, including portraits, beach scenes, gardens and landscapes, history paintings, and studies for decorative murals. Presenting works created, exhibited, or sold in the United States during the artist’s lifetime, this exhibition offers insights into how he inspired, and was inspired, by the country.
Sorolla was internationally acknowledged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as one of the foremost Spanish painters. He initially rose to acclaim in the United States with his prize-winning submission to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
On the heels of this success, Sorolla was invited by the philanthropist and collector Archer Milton Huntington to show his work in 1909 at The Hispanic Society in New York City. The public response to this exhibition was unprecedented, drawing more than 150,000 visitors in one month.
The San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday. It’s closed on Wednesday.
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