'Sorolla: Spanish Master of Light' at the National Gallery

Have you heard of Sorolla? I hadn't until the National Gallery announced this exhibition last year and, when I went to see it, recognised a couple of the paintings from visiting the Prado in Madrid. So, a Spanish painter in the Impressionist tradition reflecting the brightness of the Spanish sun. That was enough for me to want to see the exhibition so I popped along last week.

The first room is for portraits, mainly of his family, his children and his wife. There's a lovely portrait of his youngest daughter aged about 20 opposite a painting of her as a baby in bed with her mother. I liked that hanging. In-between was a portrait of Sorolla's wife, naked and from behind on a silk sheet. The glowing colours of the skin tones are marvellous with blue and green in there and the sheen on the silk sheets is created by great single-stroke daubs of white paint, very roughly applied when you look at it close up but gorgeous;y glowing from a distance. It shows a very confident artist knowing what he's doing.

The most gorgeous painting to my eyes is 'Sewing the Sail' from 1896 - just look at the light in that painting. There's a huge swathe of white in the centre of the painting, or rather, it's light grey with patches of bright white as highlights. Again, up close, these are daubs of white applied with a thick brush but are so effective. On the left-hand side there are wild roses crawling up the wall, adding reds to the composition and the right-hand side is full of lighter greens while the action takes place in the middle. This is a very large painting, much larger than the average Impressionist painting and you need to see it from a  distance as well as up close - good luck seeing it at a distance since it was always surrounded by crowds of viewers.

Sorolla was a successful society portrait painter and this exhibition includes his portrait of Amelia Romea. That profile is pure late Victorian and the notes beside the painting refer to him being influenced by Lawrence Alma-Tadema, and that profile and face are pure Alma-Tadema. Of course, Alma-Tadema would've placed his sitter in a Roman villa or on a balcony overlooking the Mediterranean. He would've added details and lots of them.

The next room is full of paintings of children on the beach and in the sea, the boys naked and the girls in simple shifts. In the sea, splashing, running, chasing each other, lots of energy and joy in the sunlight and the sea. I think my favourite was 'The White Boat, Java' from 1905,  with two lads hanging onto a boat. The light is reflected in the choppy water, again created with big, broad brush-strokes of white to create the effects of the sun. A very happy painting.

After a room of paintings of people in traditional regional dress as part of a specific commission, Corolla returns to portraits of his family and my favourite was 'My Wife and Daughters in the Garden' from 1910. Again, the emphasis is on light and shade with bright highlights on their dresses and on the pooch asleep at their feet. Clotilde, Maria and Elena are partially shaded as they sit in the garden with knees exposed to the sun. It's a large painting and dominates the room with it's powerful colours and rightly so. I can't help but wonder what his children felt about being constant models for their father throughout their lives.

It's a good exhibition with a good selection of his works - we could've done with this exhibition being held over the winter so we could go in to warm up a bit in that lovely sunlight. Here are 'The Smugglers' climbing up the cliff with their goods. It's a long way down...