SOROLLA IN JAVEA
Joaquín Sorolla visited Jávea for the first time in 1896. His surprise at its beauty and the difference of its coastline from that of Valencia is evidenced in a telegram he sent to his wife upon arrival and in a subsequent letter:
"Sublime Jávea, immense, the best I know to paint ... I'll be here for a few days. If you were here, two months." And:"
This, Xabia, has everything I could want and more, and if you could see what I have in front of my cabin, you would have no words to praise it; I keep quiet of the emotion that still grips me; imagine, my house is in monte carlo itself; all this is a crazy dream, just like living at sea, aboard a big ship. You made a big mistake by not coming!! You'd be so happy... you'd have a lot of fun! [...] this is the place where I have always dreamed, Sea and Mountains, but what a sea! ".
He returned to Jávea to paint in 1898, 1900 and 1905.
In this town there are many places where you can look at the sea and the rocks in the same way as the painter, did you know that there is a street that bears his name? Guess where ...
The best local expert is David Gutiérrez Pulido, a graduate in Art History, thanks to him we have visited Jàvea looking at it with the eyes of the painter and the anecdotes that he told us with such passion.
telephone 646 875 014
foto: Clotilde y Elena caminando en las rocas (1905, private collection)
