Asturian Landscape

Asturian Landscape dates from 1903-1904 and represents a slightly different approach from Joaquin Sorolla as he turns away from the bright beaches of Valencia in order to depict a much greener landscape in this part of northern Spain. The painting now resides in the Brooklyn Museum in the US.

If we look at the composition itself we immediately feel a long way from Sorolla's portraits, in which young children or fishermen would be captured on the bright beaches of eastern Spain. Here we find green trees dotted across the shoreline, with undulating hills leading up to the top of the canvas. The entire palette has switched to more autumnal tones of green and brown, and even the houses look a little different. One can immediately start to understand better the variety between the different Spanish regions, just as Sorolla would identify within his famous series of provincial works which became known as his Vision of Spain. The houses here continue to dot around the scene, with fairly calm sea placed around the foot of the canvas. One can imagine a tranquility here, if not the fun and energy of his Valencian based artworks.

This painting is almost a metre in width which makes it fairly standard in size for most landscape artists, but Sorolla himself would vary his canvas sizes dramatically across his career, from small postcard-sized pieces to huge murals which were many metres in height and width. His choices of size would depend on the circumstances of each piece, as well as his level of confidence that grew over time. One of the notable elements of this painting is the variety of green tones which Sorolla manages to create, which was one of his main technical qualities and allowed him to complete some high levels of realism in the works in which he devoted the most time.

Head to the Brooklyn Museum in order to see this painting in person, although it won't always be on display so check ahead if you are specifically visiting to see this piece. Whilst Sorolla himself is a major international draw, Asturian Landscape is not one of his most famous paintings and so it may not always be available for viewing. The musuem also has a huge amount of other artworks to show the public too, and so there is always a choice to be made about what they can put out at any one time. Their website features more information on this particular piece, as well as the rest of their collection as a whole and the museum is well worth a visit for those with a variety of artistic interests, as they have a broad range of items that should interest most. Aside from this artwork, their permanent collection also includes the likes of Portrait of Mme Boursier and Her Daughter (Portrait de Mme Boursier et de sa fille) by Berthe Morisot, Paul César Helleu Sketching with His Wife by John Singer Sargent, Late Afternoon, New York, Winter by Childe Hassam, La Toilette by Mary Cassatt and Sunrise by George Inness.