Sorolla Route

Sorolla
Route
The Sorolla Route includes twenty-nine places of cultural
interest related to the life and work of Joaquin Sorolla in the city
of Valencia. The tour begins in the district of the Lonja de la Seda,
where the artist was born, and reaches the Malvarrosa beach,
where the painter spent many hours painting some of his most
famous masterpieces.
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Sorolla
Route
1. House where Sorolla was born / Calle de
las Mantas, 4 > Joaquín Sorolla Bastida was
born on February 27, 1863 in Calle de las
Mantas, then known as Calle Nueva. The
fabric store Sis dits, run by his parents
Joaquín Sorolla Bastida Gascón and Maria
Concepcion Prat, was also in the vicinity.
2. Santa Catalina Church / Plaza de Santa
Catalina, 3 > Sorolla was baptized the day
after his birth in the church of Santa
Catalina, where his parents Joaquín and
María Concepción had been married the
previous year.
3. Residence of the Sorolla Bastida family
(1864-1865) / Calle de Barcelona, 6 >
Concha, Sorolla’s only sister, was born on
December 4, 1864. The family soon moved to
number 6 of the Calle Barcelona. It was there
that they lost both their father and their
mother to the cholera epidemic which swept
through the city in 1865.
4. Joaquín and Concha Sorolla Bastida’s
adoptive home, from 1865 / Calle Don Juan
de Austria, 20 > Sorolla’s aunt and uncle,
Isabel Bastida and José Piqueres, who
became his foster parents upon the death of
his parents, lived at number 20 in the old
Calle Llarga de la Sequiola. The popular
Teatro Apolo, located nearby, was inaugurated
in 1876. The shopping mall in Calle Don Juan
de Austria now stands on the site of this
theatre.
5. Former site of the Arts and Crafts School
of Valencia / Calle del Pintor Sorolla, 8 > The
Arts and Crafts School of Valencia, founded in
1868, was located in Calle de las Barcas
when Sorolla studied there between 1876 and
1878. This section of the street was given the
name Calle de Joaquín Sorolla in 1900, as a
tribute to the artist by the City Council.
6. The Arts and Crafts School of Valencia /
Avenida del Reino de Valencia, 40 > Present
site of the Arts and Crafts School of Valencia.
The art collection of the school includes an oil
painting donated by the painter’s son,
Joaquín, as well as several drawings from the
period when he studied at the school.
7. Centro del Carmen / Calle del Museo, 2 >
Former site of the School of Fine Arts of
Valencia, where Sorolla was trained between
1878 and 1881. The old convent has been
turned into exhibition rooms for paintings and
sculptures, with one of its rooms given over
exclusively to the artist. The Centro del
Carmen is also the headquarters of the
Joaquín Sorolla Institution for Research and
Study and the Consortium of Museums of the
Valencian Community.
8. Photo studio and residence of the Garcia
del Castillo family / Plaza del Ayuntamiento,
5 > Antonio García Peris, Sorolla’s patron and
father-in-law, had his home and photo studio
in a building which stood at number 10 of
this square, formerly known as Plaza de San
Francisco. Sorolla set up an improvised
painting studio here.
9. Former site of the Sociedad Recreativa El
Iris / Calle Libreros, 2 > Site of the old
Sociedad Recreativa El Iris. In 1880, Sorolla
received one of his first prizes, the silver
medal, awarded by this Society for his
painting “Un moro acechando la ocasión de
su venganza”.
10. Joaquín Sorolla’s first studio / Calle San
Martín, 9 > Sorolla set up his first painting
studio at number 9, Calle San Martín in 1881.
11. Sorolla’s second painting studio / Calle
Corona > In 1883, Joaquín Sorolla moved his
studio to the Calle de la Corona, in the district
of el Carmen.
12. The steps of La Lonja, setting for the
work El grito del palleter / Plaza del Mercado
> Sorolla set the scene of his work known as
El grito del palleter on the steps of the Lonja
de la Seda (Silk Exchange). The Diputación de
Valencia suggested he enter this painting in
the 1884 competition for a place as a boarder
in Rome.
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13. San Martín Church / Calle San Vicente,
11 > On the 8th of September 1888, Joaquín
Sorolla married Clotilde García del Castillo in
the church of San Martín.
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14. House where San Vicente Ferrer was
born. Setting for the work Exvoto / Calle
Pouet de Sant Vicent, 1 > The house where
San Vicente Ferrer was born is the setting
used by Sorolla in 1892 for his painting,
Exvoto.
15. Benlliure House Museum / Calle
Blanquerías, 23 > The Benlliure House
Museum is dedicated to a family of Valencian
painters and sculptors, who had close ties
with Joaquín Sorolla. These include the
patriarch of the family, the renowned painter
José Benlliure Gil, his son José Benlliure Ortiz
(a pupil of Sorolla’s) and Mariano Benlliure
Gil, the most sought-after sculptor of his time
and friend of Joaquín Sorolla. The Benlliure
House Museum houses an important art
collection and is a fine example of the
bourgeois home, with all its details, at the
time of Sorolla.
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16. City Council of Valencia / Plaza del
Ayuntamiento, 1 > The old Casa de la
Enseñanza was given over by the City Council
offices in 1860, and there they still are. The
office annex was built during the first two
decades of the 20th century. In 1900, Sorolla
was named Most Meritious Son of the city by
the Council of Valencia when, to great
acclaim, he took part in the National
Exhibition and the Universal Exhibition in
Paris. A section of Calle de las Barcas was
also named after the painter. The art
collection of the City Council of Valencia
includes important works such as Mi familia
(1901).
17. Cathedral of Valencia / Plaza de la Reina,
1 > The Cathedral of Valencia was the subject
of some of the early works by Joaquín Sorolla.
It was also the highlight of his nostalgic
amble through the city whenever he visited
after settling down permanently in Madrid.
18. Plaza Redonda / Plaza Redonda > The
Lonja de la seda (Silk Exchange), the old
market, the Plaza Redonda and the Los
Santos Juanes Church are all in the
neighborhood where Sorolla was born and
raised.
19. Los Santos Juanes Church / Plaza del
Mercado > Before the Central Market building
of Valencia was finished in 1928, the market
place was covered from side to side with the
awnings of the outdoor market stalls, set up
around La Lonja de la Seda and the Los
Santos Juanes church.
20. Palace of the Exhibition / Calle Galicia, 1
> The Valencian Regional Exhibition, an event
of vital importance to the society at the time,
took place in 1909. The Palace of Fine Arts,
now demolished, was the hall of honor where
Sorolla’s work was displayed alongside that of
Cecilio Pla, Salvador Abril and José and
Mariano Belliure. It stood next to the Palace of
the Exhibition, which was designed as a
municipal pavilion for the exhibition.
21. Alcove of the Virgen de los Desamparados on Puente del Mar / Puente del Mar > In
1916 Sorolla moved to Valencia to paint the
panel for the decoration of the Hispanic
Society of America of New York. The alcove of
the Virgen de los Desamparados on the
Puente del Mar was an element chosen by
Sorolla to represent Valencia.
22. Fine Arts Circle of Valencia / Calle
Cadirers, 5 > Joaquín Sorolla visited the Fine
Arts Circle of Valencia on one of his trips to
the city. Today, it is located in a Gothic palace
in Calle Cadirers. In 1916, the institution was
based in Calle Avellanas and provided shelter
and support to Sorolla while he was painting
the panel dedicated to Valencia for the
decoration commissioned by the North
American Hispanist Archer M. Huntington.
23. Fine Arts Museum of Valencia / Calle San
Pío V, 9 > In 1919, Joaquín Sorolla donated
the work “My children’s grandparents” to the
Fine Arts Museum of Valencia, then located in
the Centro del Carmen. In 1946 the Valencian
collection moved to the College Seminary St.
Pío V. The Sorolla room exhibits nearly fifty
works by the painter, a chronological journey
spanning his entire production.
24. Malvarrosa beach. Vicente Blasco
Ibáñez House Museum / Calle Isabel de
Villena, 156 > The beach of la Malvarrosa is
the scene of the most popular paintings by
Joaquín Sorolla. The White House where
Sorolla spent his last summer in Valencia
stood near the end of the beach, by the
municipality of Alboraya. The house next door
was the residence of the writer Vicente Blasco
Ibáñez, and is now a museum dedicated to
him. Blasco Ibáñez, a contemporary and
friend of Sorolla, was one of the emblematic
figures of the Valencian society and culture of
the late 19th-early 20th century.
25. Old Asylum of San Juan de Dios. Hospital
Valencia al mar / Calle Tajo, 1 > The old
Asylum of San Juan de Dios took care of sick
orphans. The monks took the patients down to
the beach to reap the benefits of the sun and
salt water. Sad Inheritance, painted by Sorolla
in 1899, depicts a group of crippled children
bathing in the sea.
26. Casa dels bous / Calle de los Pescadores,
39 > The building known as the Casa dels
Bous was where the bulls which pulled the
boats out of the sea and onto the shore were
kept. These oxen play an essential role in
Sorolla’s paintings, such as Return from
Fishing (1894) and Afternoon Sun (1903).
27. Valencia a Sorolla Monument / Plaza de
la Armada Española > On December 31, 1933
the City Council unveiled a monument to the
memory of Joaquín Sorolla at Malvarrosa
beach, near the Casa dels Bous. The main
piece, a bust of the painter, is the work of
Mariano Benlliure. The monument was
dragged into the sea during the 1957 flood. In
1963, a new version was installed in the
plaza de la Armada Española. Nine years
later, improvements were made to the area
surrounding the statue, which has been
standing there ever since.
28. General Cemetery of Valencia / Plaza
Santo Domingo de Guzmán, 27 > Joaquín
Sorolla Bastida died in Cercedilla (Madrid) on
August 10, 1923. His remains rest in the
cemetery of Valencia. The family mausoleum,
designed by the architect and grandson of the
painter Francisco Pons-Sorolla, is located
near the main gate in the third section on the
left, frame 1, number 438.
29. Pictorial Collection of the Lladró
Museum / Ciudad de la Porcelana Ctra. de
Alboraya 46016 Tavemes Blanques > The
Lladró Museum is located in Tavernes
Blanques, north of the city of Valencia. Its
collection of paintings includes works by Juan
de Juanes, El Greco, José de Ribera Zurbarán,
Ignacio Pinazo and Joaquín Sorolla. Among
the seven works by Sorolla on display, special
mention should be made of I am the bread of
life (1896-1897).