The National Museum of Fine Arts (MNBA) reopened its doors to children and young people to learn about painting and painters, this time in a workshop dedicated to the Spaniard Joaqun Sorolla Bastida on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his physical disappearance.
As part of the museum’s 110th anniversary, the second edition of the meeting brought together 120 girls,
Children and young people who could learn more about the life and work of one of the most outstanding artists in the Iberian country
Through this initiative, different groups approached the work of Sorolla (1863–1923) based on audiovisual formats and the appreciation of the canvases that the museum treasures in its collection of Spanish paintings.
One of the goals of MNBA’s children’s youth creative workshops is to raise awareness of general culture and the universe of the visual arts. Through the collection, they make the world around them known in a special way and encourage them to express their individuality.
In return, they aim to change the vision of the world, to interpret and communicate through creation, to provide tools for dialogue with the environment, to observe, appreciate and change it, while learning different artistic techniques.
The latest edition is “a well-deserved homage to various sculptural techniques that value the themes addressed in his compositions, along with the treatment of color and light, elements of relevant interest in Sorolla’s work,” emphasized the final report of the experience.
According to the text, the Sorolla collection that the MNBA preserves “provides enough material for those who come for the first time to enjoy and learn about his works in detail.”
Spanish works appreciated in the museum include Boy eats watermelon, Mara in the port of Jávea, Summer between orange trees, regattas, idyll, Clotilde walks through the gardens of La Granja, oxherding boats, Elena between roses, and I go to sea.
Sorolla pendant
Like Sorolla over a century ago, girls, boys and teenagers were inspired by the sea and used techniques like collageOrigami, drawing with crayons and markers, and painting in collective and individual works that recreate the Spanish painter’s symbolic universe on the subject of nature and its close relationship with people, coastal scenes, and sea customs
Beyond paper and canvas, the work of the impressionist, post-impressionist, and luminist was brought to life in a performance where seven-year-old workshop participants, along with Professor Omar Daz, recreated a beach scene in the room that houses Sorolla’s work.
On this occasion, the families had the opportunity to attend a conference on the Valencian painter, held by the curator and researcher of the museum’s Spanish collection, Manuel Crespo.
In the closing remarks of the workshop, Jorge Fernández, director of the MNBA, recalled the death of Sorolla in Cerdecilla, Spain, saying that “there are small artists that stand out here, with whom we must build a museum.” I don’t know how many floors will reach the middle of the 21st century. It won’t be enough for all the potential artists this country has.”
According to Fernández, “the children have revived their imagination, which is always much deeper than ours, and they have given us back an image with the passion of art, which is also important: art carries a lot of passion, and you already give this passion back”.
In addition to the recognition of the participants, teachers, and families, he emphasized, “The most important thing is that the museum is a living space.”
“Creativity was everywhere, so Sorolla is looking at us from afar, but his thinking is present and his works are more present than ever,” he pointed out.
History of the workshops
It was announced that the next edition of the workshop would take place in October, continuing an experience that began in the 1960s and 1970s of the last century.
The creation workshops organized by the MNBA education branch have their origins in the so-called short courses that were developed in the second half of the 1960s and into the following decade.
From 1989 on, they were referred to as children’s creative workshops. Since 2009, the age groups have grown, and the name has changed to “Child Youth Creative Workshops”. (2023)
