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Impressionist fell in love with Jávea
JÁVEA is to pay tribute to the impressionist painter Joaquín Sorolla who first visited the Marina Alta town 125 years ago and found inspiration for his work.
The artist arrived in the coastal municipality on October 7, 1896 and fell in love with the scenery and the people – capturing both on his remarkable canvasses.
Letters to his wife Clotilde outline Sorolla’s captivation with the effect of the light, sea, and places such as the San Antonio cape and other corners of the coast and town.
The town hall has announced the anniversary will be the launch of a spectacular programme of cultural and educational events to celebrate the special relationship this autumn. And it is also planned to commemorate the 100th year of the artist’s death in 2023, again marking the link between Jávea and an internationallyrenowned painter.
One of the highlights will be a life-size statue of Sorolla at work with his easel and the creation of a ‘brand’ for publicity – incorporating the colours he typically employed, his face, and a silhouette of the landmark peninsula he painted.
According to Jávea town hall, the ‘tribute’ is designed to ‘return part of the esteem that he showed for us’ and is supported by the Sorolla foundation.
It is expected the places Sorolla visited to paint will be remembered with 14 lecterns; each with a QR code that will link people with the town hall website and a section dedicated to the artist. In addition, there will be a photographic exhibition ‘Sorolla in his paradise’ which will feature contemporary photographs from the painter’s own collection and a portrait of the artist by Anders Leonart Zorn.
Mayor José Chulvi believes the programme across the final quarter of the year will draw visitors to the town and will be ‘important’ to establish it as a cultural destination.
He praised the work of the organisers and said the tribute would ‘transcend’ the local area and stated the project was ‘alive’, with more details to be announced soon.