A photographic journey through the corners of the Alcazar of Seville painted by Sorolla

The contemplation of fifteen paintings by the Valencian impressionist It reaches a new dimension when complemented by a visit to the gardens that the artist captured on canvas over a century ago. The most incredible thing is that all these spaces of the Alcázar, fortunately, are preserved without practically any changes, which allows you to enjoy live and direct these corners that Sorolla’s brush immortalized forever between 1908 and 1919 practically as they were then.

The painter, during his stays at the Alcazar, had a particular predilection for what we call main gardens, that is to say those of the Renaissancewhich are attached to the Mudejar and Gothic palaces: Flores, Galera, Troy, Dance and Mercurio Pond. All form a succession of articulated and consecutive spaces which follow the Islamic pattern: rectangular and in the shape of a cross with water, as well as surrounded, at least in part, by palaces.

As one of the exhibition’s curators, Román Fernández-Baca, explained to this newspaper, Sorolla falls in love with themwhich is manifested in his work, focused mainly on these gardens. This can be seen in the sample oil paintings. The ABC camera in Seville recreated twelve of the thirteen that paint the Alcazar – since one of them cannot be located at a precise point – to verify that each of the paintings is still alive today within the walls of the colossal monument.

If we travel through this succession of chained gardens starting from the Pond, we find “Gardens of Charles V in the Alcazar of Seville” (1908), canvas painted from the upper gallery by Sorolla, undoubtedly the one which occupies the largest space. You will be able to see the Mercury Pond and the gardens of Charles V from the aerial perspective that ABC was able to reproduce thanks to the installations of the Alcazar.

In the same place, but at ground level and from a different angle, Sorolla created one of the most suggestive works that make up the collection: “Reflections of a Fountain, Alcázar of Seville” (1908), which shows the reflection in the water of the Mercury Pond of the Gothic Palace and the sculpture of Mercury made by Diego de Pesquera and cast by Bartolomé Morel, like the Giralda. Precisely, the base of this figure is the only painted thing that is not part of the reflection.

For the next painting, you must go to the Jardin de Danse, where the Valencian painted “Fountain of the Alcazar of Seville” (1908), which shows the charm of one of the many fountains that articulate these small rectangular gardens with the backdrop of the sober and energetic facade of the Gothic palace and the passage that connects the ancient Muslim orchards to the Crucero Garden.

Continuing through the gardens, we arrive at the Danza Garden, from where Sorolla painted the lush vegetation of the Alcazar looking towards the Garden of the Ladies, with a generic view that shows an orange tree in the foreground and the Fountain of Neptune in the background. It’s about work ‘Orange tree, garden of the Alcazar of Seville’ (1918). The time of year and the changes that the vegetation of the garden may have undergone mean that the photograph offers a clearer view of the source and the background.

If we move away momentarily from this visit to the main gardens in the direction of the previous painting, we arrive at the southernmost part of the Grutesco Gallery, in the garden of Charles V. Here too Sorolla stopped, at the foot of whose painting “Gardens of Charles V, Alcazar of Seville” (1910) appears the Gazebo Charles V, which will be restored next year in full commemoration of the fifth centenary of the royal marriage between the emperor and Isabella of Portugal at the Alcázar of Seville.

The point farthest from the rest of those that appear in the paintings on display is close to the previous one. It is, as its name suggests, the “Fountain of Philip II of the Alcazar of Seville” (1908). Seen in the foreground is the aforementioned fountain, once again highlighting the water, which is part of the Gazebo and Lion Pond, a complex restored in 2017.

The garden of Troy inspired no less than three paintings by Sorolla. THE “Arab fountain of the Alcazar of Seville” (1910), with which the exhibition opens, represents this scenario with the foreground of the fountain and the great depth of the consecutive gardens provided by the access arch.

From another corner of the patio, we can again see the gallery of round arches and columns by Lorenzo de Oviedo as well as the fountain. All this is reflected in the work ‘Grotesque Corner of the Alcazar of Seville’ (1910).

Finally, a third perspective shows a landscape similar to the previous one but more frontally grotesque, without ever failing to represent the fountain which centers the geometry of the garden of Troy. It is titled “El Grutesco, Alcazar of Seville” (1908).

We finally arrive at the Garden of Flowers, another of the key points for Sorolla’s eye and brush, where he will look for some of the most complicated and suggestive prints and perspectives. Two of them come from the Galera garden. One of them is “Swimming pool of the Alcazar of Seville”(1918) which offers an image of the pond observed from the semicircular arch which connects the garden of Galera to the garden of Flores and with the parietal monument of the latter in the background.

Also with the pond as the main motif, the work stands out “The swimming pool, Alcazar of Seville” (1910), which shows the aquatic element in the foreground to open the perspective towards the princely garden. The angle is taken diagonally from one of the pillars which constitute the end of the Flower Garden and the swimming pool itself.

The last of Sorolla’s paintings of the Alcázar that can be seen in the exhibition of the Gothic Palace and that the ABC camera has transferred to the reality of the 21st century captures the semicircular arch that gives access to the Garden of Flowers on the opposite side, always with the pond in the foreground. It is one of his most contemporary works, entitled “Swimming pool of the Alcazar of Seville” (1918) and shows the vegetation of La Galera in the background.

To be able to take this sensory journey, discover the traits of Joaquín Sorolla and how they acquire a life of their own through their translation into contemporary reality, just visit the exhibition, born from the collaboration between the Board of Directors of the Real Alcázar, the Sorolla Museum Foundation and the Unicaja Foundation, and organized by Enrique Varela and Román Fernández-Baca, it can be visited free of charge at the Gothic Palace of the Alcazar. until March 1st from 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.