Fundación Consulado del Mar in Burgos is presenting the exhibition Painting Without Fear: Joaquín Sorolla and Valencia in 1900, in collaboration with Museo Sorolla, as part of the programme of activities organized to commemorate the centenary of the artist's death.

Curated by Pablo González Tornel, director of the Museum of Fine Arts of Valencia, the exhibition examines various facets of Joaquín Sorolla's figure as a painter of portraits, landscapes and scenes of everyday life, aiming to contextualize his work within his local context of Valencia during the period known as fin de siècle. The interesting selection of works strikes up a thought-provoking dialogue between Sorolla and some of his great coeval painters, such as Ignacio Pinazo, José Benlliure and Antonio Fillol, while also reflecting on the strong personality of the Valencian school of the time and its overall importance in Spanish art history.

The BBVA Collection is participating in this exhibition with the loan of Portrait of Antonio García Peris, an excellent painting in which the artist portrays his father-in-law, the photographer Antonio García Peris, a mentor of Sorolla during his early career and father of Clotilde, his future wife. The choice of framing, revealing the influence of photography, is noteworthy, as indeed is the use of grey and the treatment of the sitter’s face, all executed with Sorolla’s signature expressive brushwork, which imbues the composition with a fine sense of rhythm and vibrancy.