The new sample “Paint without fear. Joaquín Sorolla and Valencia in 1900′ which houses the Cathedral of Burgos, and others in Valladolid and the Museum of Contemporary Art, make the community “the epicenter and landmark of culture in Spain” and highlight “the excellence of Castilian culture -Leonese, with a wide variety of proposals and exhibitions of international impact.
Thus, yesterday the Minister of Culture, Tourism and Sports, Gonzalo Santonja, praised the cultural offer of Castilla y León during his participation in the exhibition dedicated to Sorolla, which It can be visited in the renovated Beato Valentín Palencia showroom. of Burgos Cathedral until March 2, 2025.
This is an exhibition that is part of the events planned for the celebration, in 2025, of the 950th anniversary of the transfer of the episcopal see of Oca to the city of Burgos.
An “important” anniversary in the history of the city of Burgos, supported by the Archbishopric and Cathedral of Burgos, in collaboration with the Consulado del Mar Foundation, and which becomes a “backbone” of different initiatives and proposals aimed at promote the projection of Burgos as a city of cultural reference at national and international level.
In the opinion of the head of Culture, this exhibition must be, once again, the expression of the “constant dialogue” between the art of the past and the present in order to provide this heritage with new formulas which “expand its intrinsic and which increase their capacity of attraction.
The inauguration of the exhibition counted with the participation of the mayor of Burgos, Cristina Ayala; the president of the Provincial Council, Borja Suárez; the territorial delegate of the Council in Burgos, Roberto Sáiz Alonso; of the Archbishop of the Diocese of Burgos, Mario Iceta; of the dean of the Cathedral, Félix Castro, and the president of the Consulado del Mar Foundation, Antonio Miguel Méndez Pozo, reports Ep.
The exhibition brings Sorolla’s work closer and allows us to contemplate it in the period of splendor that Spanish culture experienced at the end of the 19th century and in the first third of the 20th century. A scene where the arts, painting, novels and music have reached extraordinary strength in Spain as an expression of culture and with wide projection in Europe.
A cultural explosion that was also reflected in Valencia in 1900, which was experiencing an exceptional period in its history and culture thanks to outstanding figures of art, literature and thought such as Joaquín Sorolla, Mariano Benlliure and Vicente Blasco Ibáñez.
At the turn of the century, Spanish painting has found a new means of expressionopening the doors to the great revival of the arts.
In this context and located in international trends linked to realistic, natural and luminist painting, Joaquín Sorolla has cultivated a very personal style characterized by an exceptional technical skill that allowed him to successfully approach different themes such as history painting, portraiture, costumbrista painting or landscape.
Of all the Valencian artists of that time, he was the most internationally recognized painter, with his participation in numerous exhibitions organized in Munich, Paris, Chicago, Berlin, Venice and Vienna; at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1900, where he won the Grand Prix, or at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in Madrid, which awarded him the Medal of Honor.
His relationship with Burgos
The exhibition offers various paintings by Sorolla in dialogue with other Valencian painters around 1900. Portraits, seascapes, landscapes and traditional scenes of Valencian rural life, as well as the painter’s relationship with the city of Burgos, in through the paintings he made of the Cathedral. , whose light, beauty and harmony he was able to capture.
The exhibition is organized by the director of the Museum of Fine Arts of Valencia, Pablo González Tornel, and different museums and entities that donated their works collaborated, such as the Sorolla Museum, the National Prado Museum, the Collections of ‘Art by Banco Sabadell and BBVA, and the Museum of Fine Arts of Valencia itself, bringing together 32 large format canvases.
