Joaquín SorollaSpanish, 1863–1923Escena de café
Can I see it?
Unknown
Where is “Escena de café” now? Collection: Sorolla Museum, Madrid. Unknown.
Madrid, Spain
The owner is known; whether it is on view today is not.
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the work
Museum text in Spanish
Dibujo de trazo fino, seguro, sin sombreado, representando el interior de un café en perspectiva oblicua, seguramente realizado entre 1885 y 1888, tal vez en Roma o París. De la estancia del pintor en ambas ciudades son muy abundantes los dibujos con escenas de café de este tipo, en unos casos con predominio del carboncillo y trabajo sombreado, y en otros casos con dibujos de contorno como el dibujo que nos ocupa, cuyo arco cronológico podría abrirse entre 1885-1900. En todos ellos estudia las actitudes de la clientela. En primer plano, sobre dos mesas unidas se observan una botella y un vaso. Tras ellas, varias mesas en torno a las cuales está sentada la concurrida clientela ataviada con bombines y chisteras. Cierra la composición al fondo a la izquierda la parte inferior de un espejo en el que se reflejan algunos clientes.
Sorolla Museum
Details
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- Sorolla Museum
- Image: Sorolla Museum — In Copyright
In the life of Joaquín Sorolla
The whole life1885
A four-year grant to study in Rome
Having completed his military service, the twenty-two-year-old Sorolla received a grant from the Spanish Academy in Rome for four years of study in Italy. In Rome he was welcomed by the academy’s director, Francisco Pradilla, in whose example the young painter found stability.
1885
Paris: his first encounter with modern painting
A long stay in Paris gave him his first exposure to modern painting; he was especially struck by exhibitions of Jules Bastien-Lepage and Adolph von Menzel. Back in Rome he studied with José Benlliure, Emilio Sala and José Villegas Cordero.
1888
Returns to Valencia to marry Clotilde
Sorolla returned to Valencia to marry Clotilde García del Castillo; by 1895 they had three children — María, Joaquín and Elena.
1890
Moves to Madrid: large canvases for the salons
The family moved to Madrid. For the next decade Sorolla concentrated on large canvases of orientalist, mythological, historical and social subjects for salons and international exhibitions in Madrid, Paris, Venice, Munich, Berlin and Chicago.
1897
“A Research”: the Prize of Honour in Madrid
Two paintings linking art and science, “Portrait of Dr. Simarro at the Microscope” and “A Research”, won Sorolla the Prize of Honour at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts. He showed his friend Simarro in the laboratory, catching the contrast between the reddish-yellow light of a gas burner and the weak mauvish light from the window.
1900
Grand Prix at the Paris Universal Exposition
“Sad Inheritance”, a huge canvas of crippled children bathing in the sea at Valencia under a monk’s supervision, brought Sorolla his greatest official recognition, the Grand Prix and a medal of honour, and his exhibit as a whole earned him nomination as a Knight of the Legion of Honour. After this picture he never returned to so overtly social a theme.
