Following the exhibition at the Sorolla Museum in 2022, Fundación Bancaja is now presenting Sorolla in Black at its headquarters in Valencia. Organized in collaboration with the museum from Madrid, this exhibition centres on the importance of the use of black within the painter’s overall output, shedding light on a facet virtually unexplored to date. The show is part of a wider programme of activities to commemorate the centenary of the artist’s death.

With over one hundred works, the exhibition gives the spectator a chance to recognize how Sorolla, widely known as a painter who depicts the brightness of the Mediterranean light, frequently resorted to black, a tone he connects with the Spanish painting tradition of great masters like El Greco (1541-1614) or Goya (1746-1828). He also uses black to suggest frames of mind and imbues it with new meaning, related to the concepts of modernism and elegance so much in fashion at the time.

The BBVA contributes to this important exhibition with the loan of Portrait of Antonio García Peris, the artist´s father-in-law, an accomplished painting in which Sorolla depicts the sitter on a chair, in a three-quarter view, with a serene face gazing directly back at the beholder. Equally striking is the use of grey, that extends from the garments of the sitter to the background, framing the soft flesh tones of the face and conveying a profound sense of calm that matches the attitude of the portrayed character. Also worth underscoring is the expressive brushwork that gives the composition a vibrant rhythm.