SOROLLA CENTENARY (2023) 50 EURO COINID92937004
To mark the centenary of the death of Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida, the Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre is dedicating a collection of commemorative coins to the most internationally renowned Spanish painter of his time and one of the leading figures in the history of Spanish art as a whole.
The obverse is a colour reproduction of the work entitled "Paseo a la orilla del mar", painted by Joaquín Sorolla in 1909.
On the reverse is a reproduction of the work entitled "El balandrito", painted by Joaquín Sorolla in 1909.
Both paintings are housed in the Museo Sorolla, Madrid.
| Series | Sorolla Centenary |
| Denomination | Cincuentín |
| Year | 2023 |
| Colour | Yes |
| Quality | Proof |
| Diameter (mm) | 73 |
| Face Value (Euro) | 50 |
| Alloy (‰) | 925 |
| Metal | Silver |
| Weight (g) | 168.75 |
| Maximum Mintage (units) | 3,000 |
SOROLLA CENTENARY (2023) 50 EURO COIN
Joaquín Sorolla (Valencia 1863-Cercedilla 1923) studied drawing at the "Escuela de Artesanos de Valencia" and shared a studio with José Vilar y Torres, the Benlliure brothers, and Ignacio Pinazo Camarlench. He studied the work of Velázquez and other artists at the Prado Museum.
He travelled to Rome, where he became acquainted with classical and Renaissance art, as well as the great museums, and in 1885 he travelled to Paris to study Impressionist painting at close quarters.
In 1888 he married Clotilde García del Castillo in Valencia, and in 1889 the painter and his family settled in Madrid, where, in barely five years, Sorolla achieved great renown as a painter. In 1894 he travelled again to Paris, where he developed a style of painting known as "Luminism", which was to be characteristic of his work thereafter. He began to paint outdoors, masterfully mastering light and combining it with everyday scenes and landscapes of Mediterranean life.
Valencia named him a favourite and meritorious son, and a street was named after him.
After many trips around Europe, mainly in England and France, he held an exhibition in Paris with more than half a thousand works, which gave him unusual international recognition, and his pictorial work became known throughout Europe and America.
Much of his unprecedented international success also came from his exhibition in New York in 1909, with works such as "Evening Sun" and "Swimmers", among many others. He also triumphed in 1911 at the St. Louis Art Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago.
In November of the same year he was commissioned by the Hispanic Society of America to paint fourteen murals dedicated to the regions of Spain, which were to decorate the halls of the institution.
In 1914 he was appointed an academician and when he finished the works for the Hispanic Society he worked as a teacher of composition and colour at the Madrid School of Fine Arts.
During his career, Joaquín Sorolla accumulated a large number of prizes and honours, both in Spain and abroad, and was one of the most renowned Spanish painters both at home and abroad, and is considered one of the greatest masters of Spanish painting in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
"Walk by the Sea" (1909)
This is one of the most representative works in the Museum and the culmination of the Valencian painter's mature and confident period. It depicts Clotilde and María, the painter's wife and eldest daughter, and their peaceful stroll along the seashore is a spectacle of elegance in pose, attitude and clothing.
"El balandrito" (1909)
Painted in 1909 on the Valencian beach of El Cabañal, "El balandrito" is one of Sorolla's best known and most popular paintings. After his return from the United States, Sorolla spent a productive summer campaign in which he gave free rein to his pictorial interests and his thematic tastes, which resulted in the quality and maturity conveyed by the works executed at this time.