My favorite painter is Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida, a once-famous Spanish master who has now lapsed into obscurity. As described more fully in the article I wrote about him for the Monadnock Review, I love his depiction of light, his highly original juxtaposition of colors, and his joyous sense of life. Sorolla has been labeled an impressionist, but his style is probably more accurately described as luminism or even "Sorollism" (as it was often called in his day). Otra Margarita is an example of his early works and, rare for Sorolla, one with something of a social message. His mature approach is especially apparent in his paintings of the beaches and people of his native Valencia. Many of Sorolla's works are at the museum of the Hispanic Society of America and, of course, at the Museo Sorolla in Madrid. Sorolla had an influence on the English painter John Singer Sergeant (and vice-versa); more recently, his art has been a source of inspiration to several contemporary painters, including the Americans Jimmy Dyer and Dan McCaw as well as the Valencian painter Royo (see his painting Dos Figuras).
Second to Sorolla for my affections is Jan Vermeer (I prefer Sorolla, even though I consider Vermeer to be the better painter). Prints and reproductions do very little justice to the brilliant contrasts and blinding luminosity of Vermeer's works (web graphics can be better in these respects), so I recommend experiencing them in museums whenever possible. The Vermeer exhibit at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. was an aesthetic "peak experience" for me since it gathered together a number of my favorite Vermeer paintings, including Girl with a Pearl Earring and View of Delft; my only disappointment was that The Art of Painting was not included, as I consider it to be the greatest painting ever made (though I have subsequently seen it in Vienna).
A recent article in American Arts Quarterly introduced me to the paintings of Rockwell Kent, whose painting Toilers of the Sea I like for its stark beauty, as well as for reminding me of the eponymous Victor Hugo novel. I also like many of the paintings of Abbott Thayer, especially his paintings of Mount Monadnock.
In addition to enjoying all those paintings in museums and books, the following paintings also grace our home in Denver, Colorado:
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