Join me as I discover the 5 artistic techniques that Joaquin Sorolla used to capture light in his garden paintings with an artistic prompt to bring his genius into your own art practice.
1. Creating a Garden to Paint
Joaquín Sorolla had a dream – to paint his life, in a beautiful garden, surrounded by his family. There was only one problem, his dream garden did not yet exist. So, at the height of his career, he dedicated a central part of his creative efforts to bring this garden into reality.
In 1909, Sorolla purchased a house in Madrid and transformed its grounds into a formal garden. Drawing on Moorish and classical influences, he laid out paths, hedges, and flowering beds that provided ever‑changing subjects under shifting illumination. Finally he had his open‑air studio for studying natural light.
2. Commitment to Painting En Plein Air
Sorolla’s style is often described as a blend of Impressionism and Realism, in that he aimed to capture the fleeting moments and vibrant qualities of the natural world.
He painted directly from life—often outdoors in his own garden—studying how sunlight fell on his subjects in real time. This rigorous, on‑site observation allowed him to capture subtle shifts in light and atmosphere.
3. Masterful Use of Color to Convey Depth and Movement
Sorolla deliberately exaggerated warm-cool contrast in his pieces, pushing highlights toward warmer yellows and shadows toward cooler blues or violets. This heightened temperature contrast gives his canvases a vivid, almost tangible luminosity.
By juxtaposing complementary hues—warm ochres against cool emeralds, for example—he created dynamic compositions that appear to glow from within. This use of color contrast enhances the sense of sunlit vibrancy.
4. Intuitive and Energetic Brushwork
Eschewing studio stillness, Sorolla used thick, confident strokes and applied paint in swift, unblended dabs that captured the essence of his subject without overworking details.
This intuitive, one-gesture approach preserved the energy of his initial vision, ensuring each canvas retained the spontaneity and movement of the moment.
5. Capturing “Vibrating Sunshine”
Sorolla worked in short bursts, locking in the fleeting brilliance of sunlit moments before they shifted, so each canvas pulses with the energy of changing light —the quality of his brushstrokes and use of color created a shimmering effect of “vibrating sunshine.”
Contemporary critics marveled at his ability to render intense sunlight. James Gibbons Huneker declared, “Not Turner, not Monet, painted so directly blinding shafts of sunlight as has this Spaniard,” cementing Sorolla’s reputation as the painter of light.
Artistic Prompt:
Capture Your Own Vibrating Sunshine
Step outside and choose a sunlit subject—a flower, a stone wall, a patch of grass—and paint it en plein air, observing how light shifts across twenty‑minute intervals.
Push your warm–cool contrasts by dialing highlights toward buttery yellows and shadows into cool violets or blues.
Work intuitively with energetic, confident strokes to lock in the moment’s glow.
Finally, layer complementary hues—think ochres against emeralds—to create depth and make your canvas radiate from within, just as Sorolla did.
I hope you enjoyed learning these 5 reasons why Joaquín Sorolla is called the “painter of light,” and that they enhance your own art practice.
You might also find these other garden painters inspiring: