During a visit to St Ives in Cornwall, he starts painting in oils, then moves to Paris where commercial and artistic success await.
naturalism
He resumes his travels, visiting Istanbul, Greece, Italy, then Algeria and Spain. Wonderful watercolours from there and at home in Sweden.
He became extremely popular, with his genre scenes containing animals, particularly dogs. A selection from the early years of his career.
The painting’s reception, and how it changed 19th century painting, with Courbet, Lhermitte, Naturalists, and Tom Lea III.
A fantasy self-portrait naked with a skeleton on his lap, and one of the most haunting depictions of rural deprivation. A very unusual artist indeed.
He developed from the style and optics of Vermeer’s paintings, limiting depth of field to develop bokeh. And he painted ‘problem pictures’ too.
In the late 1890s, Sorolla painted two works showing the new science and technology of medical histology, and more scenes on the beach.
Fine naturalist paintings from this Spanish master, showing the hard lives of fishermen, a young woman arrested for killing her child, religious ceremony, and prostitution.
A major influence of realism, leading to Naturalism, and on Impressionism, Courbet was one of those who paved the way for modern art.
From groups in the countryside, he turned his attention to scandalous women bathing in the woods, then a series of superb landscapes.
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