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[Music]
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Welcome to a Spain Poco Poco. Hola or
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Tanya.
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Hola. Today we are going to talk about
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Wim Sroya who is a famous Spanish
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impressionist painter. And I will say
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this is a little selfish on my part
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because I do love impressionist
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paintings. So this is why we started on
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this one. Not only just because he's a
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famous Spanish painter. It's a little
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bit of a combo.
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And and here we are. promising in our
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Poco Poco is a little bit of arts,
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culture, food. We're giving you all the
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all of Spanish life, right? And history
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and all those things.
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Yes.
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And you know what's I think is about
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interesting for him as as an artist is
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that he was also a very profitable
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artist during his lifetime. He wasn't
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just some starving artist that wasn't
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had he no one heard of him until 60
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years after his death.
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Lucky him because that's hard to do.
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Yes.
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I mean he had painted from from my
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research he had painted over 2,000
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paintings. I mean that's that's a lot of
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painting and thousands more of drawings
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and things.
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Yes. And he was painting and doing um
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portraits. I mean he was doing a lot of
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different things. Um a lot of different
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types of painting and I think probably
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who knows where the where the profitable
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part came from but I think the the
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portraits were quite a profitable part
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of being a painter in those years. I
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think. And speaking of years, he was um
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born in Valencia in 1863.
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So, of course, he is a famous Valencian
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painter, not just a famous Spanish
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painter.
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Could that be why maybe the train
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stations named after him?
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Plus maybe a thousand streets and a few
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other things
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and buildings and who knows what else.
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Schools, who knows what else.
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Who knows? We we cannot count the amount
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of things that might be named after him.
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So, let's just say he's much loved. He's
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much loved. And what's really sad is he
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was like you see he was born in 1963 but
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he was orphaned
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1863. I'm sorry. 18 I say 1986.
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That seems so long ago.
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It is a little while ago.
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But his parents they had died of
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chalera. So him and his younger sister
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were orphaned. He was only two and his
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aunt and uncle raised raised them. So he
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was probably lucky to have an aunt and
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uncle to raise him because you probably
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wouldn't always have had that in in that
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era. Yeah.
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Right. Right. And it seems like they
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they must have um I that they encouraged
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his artistic endeavors because he
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started studying art at an early age
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here in Valencia at the Academy San
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Carlos which is a major art
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school studio
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and he started that at 15 which is inc
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which is very young. So he was obviously
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incredibly talented and then he also
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studied in Rome and Paris and Madrid. So
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he he went around and got a lot of
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experience at a very young age which I
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think obviously
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um impacted his talents tremendously
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because his his paintings are lovely. I
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mean they're very very typical kind of
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impressionist in a way. It's very much
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about um painting life. if anyone wants
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to go on and and sort of just Google his
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paintings if you haven't seen them. Um
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they're really depicting just life and
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people doing things and in a very
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beautiful beautiful sort of bright way I
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think
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and he was known speaking of bright he
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was known for his ability to capture
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light. He was known for painting, as
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they say, in plain air, which is in
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plain air outdoors. And some of his
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paintings, he he loved to do these beach
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scenes and the the the light cascading
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on the people. It is it is breathtaking.
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But some of his canvases even have the
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grains of sand from the winds on the
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beach like not on purpose, but he's
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playing outside and nature would be
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caught on his caught in the snares of
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the of the wet paint.
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Absolutely. Yeah. And you can see the
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you can see the motion in the people's
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clothes and the motion of the wind and
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the waves and it's just really capturing
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um something like you said it just
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incredibly beautiful the way he the way
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he paints. Um and he he did dedicate his
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entire life to painting. He got married
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in 1888.
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Um and her name was You're going to have
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to correct me on this one. Let's go with
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Plotile Garcia del Castillo. How's that?
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That sounds pretty good to me. and he
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was of course she was his muse because
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that would make sense. Um and a sub so
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therefore a subject of many of his
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pictures and they they settled in Madrid
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um in 1890 and went on to have three
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children. Um but he despite living in
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Madrid he returned to Valencia and was
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was drawn very much to the Valencia area
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and capturing the the effects of the
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Mediterranean sunlight. So, it's a he
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he's it's you can see why people love
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him particularly here in this area, I
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think.
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And I'll have to say when I as a side
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note, when we first moved here, there
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was I didn't know who really Soya was. I
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saw the name on the train station.
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Didn't mean much to me, but the fine
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arts museum was doing a retrospective of
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Sorya's work. So, I got to see a bunch
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of the paintings and and and it and it
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was
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breathtaking for sure. And but just to
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see all this light and know that it was
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painted, you know, there was a lot of
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pride. You felt pride in the exhibit. I
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guess it were a Valencian pride showing
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off their artist.
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Yeah.
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Yeah. And besides the besides the
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paintings, I don't know um whether that
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particular exhibit was mostly his his
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more um lifestyle art or whether it was
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his portraits or both. But he did
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obviously do a lot of portraits. He even
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painted a portrait of President Taft. So
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he was very popular in that era um for
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doing the portraits. I don't know how
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the how did the museum did they do a
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little bit of both or
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it was from it was mostly I I want to
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even say it might have been called soya
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and valencia. It was a lot of the beach
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scenes is what I remember was just a lot
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of beach water scenes um that kind of
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that kind of thing. Now, what I had
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learned about his portraiture work, I
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think that was what paid his bills to to
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then do these these larger these the the
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scenes, right? These speech scenes and
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things.
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Um, is that he had like he was in a like
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his competitor was John Singer Sergeant.
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Am I doing it the right or was it
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Sergeant Singer? No,
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no, John Singer. No,
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John Sergeant. And if you look, they've
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kind of had similar styles in their
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portraiture or of that time. And they
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were both fighting over who's painting
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the the Hoy Poy of the day, who's who's
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getting those commissions.
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Yes. And I think, you know, back then,
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everyone was getting um portraits done.
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So, there was probably quite a lot of
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work, but still, you've got to have
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competitors if you're going to be in the
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business, right?
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Yes. And I think in regards to the
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non-portrait work, um, a great turning
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point in his career was the painting Sad
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Inheritance, which was 1899.
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And this was a painting that he painted
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after the polio epidemic struck in
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Valencia. Um, and around, you know,
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around a lot of parts of, I'm not going
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to say the world, but definitely in
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Europe. Um, so I'm not sure exactly how
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far off spread that was, but definitely
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here. and the this ex this this large
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large canvas depicted um children that
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had been crippled with polio bathing at
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the sea in Valencia um under the
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supervision of a monk. So it was it's
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this enormous painting um that I think
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is has has a very big part of his sort
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of career sort of progression I think.
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Yeah. I mean, and it it's
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it replicates all the other kind of work
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with the the scenes and stuff, but he
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didn't go back to that heavy of a
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subject before. That was like or again,
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I mean, that was his he did that once.
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It was like once and done. He It was
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because it's a very impressive painting
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and you see the emotion when you realize
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what's really going on of these crippled
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children.
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Yeah. And I think it's interesting
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because that's that wasn't he he was
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painting people on the beach, people in
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life, just people doing things, you
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know, like in the Impressionist, this
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was kind of this was kind of the first
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time people were really painting just
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people doing things rather than
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something very kind of still lifey and
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everything. So, you know, that it
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obviously made sense to for him to paint
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that because that was something that was
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happening on the beach at that moment,
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you know, and it and so and it also
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makes sense that he didn't go back to
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that because that he he did that once.
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Now, you need to go on and there's a lot
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of people having a life doing a lot of
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different things. Um, but he did win a
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lot of um honors for that painting. So,
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I'm sure that enhanced his his career
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regardless of whether that was something
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he wanted to paint again.
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Right. Right. And then um his he did get
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um in he toured America a few times and
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then in 1912 he received this very big
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commission from the Hispanic Society of
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America which is in New York City to
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paint a big series of canvases to
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decorate um I think I believe it was the
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library in their in their building. And
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so then he did this vision of Spain
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which just was this huge project had
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like 14 huge canvases. Um
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huge ones. Yeah. Right. Like the size of
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cinema screens. I mean enormous. When we
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when we say huge, not just like the big
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ones that you can buy for yourself at
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the art store. Huge.
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Huge. Yes. Um and it and it they
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represented all of Spain, right? So all
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the different regions, their foods and
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costumes and cultures and and just their
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daily lives and um it was very detailed
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and
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very impressive. But sadly he never got
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to see it.
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Yeah.
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Hung unfortunately. He had died of a
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young age. He had a stroke in 1920 at
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the young age of 60.
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Very very young. Yeah. So he obviously
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he managed to finish it but he never saw
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it installed which is which is very sad.
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and and he was obviously much loved here
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as a local hero and three years after
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his death he received a a very
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spectacular
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um funeral um
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a state funeral
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state funeral
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and crowds on the street and
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all of that. Yeah.
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And that was in Valencia and he in in um
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1932 his house in Madrid was turned into
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a museum. So, and that is obviously
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called the surprisingly Soya Museum.
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Get out of town.
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No, I know it's shocking.
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So, it might be hard to find because of
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its name. Um, but it is a typical
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Spanish house um um from the first half
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of the 20th century and his home and
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work.
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Typically, well, a typical wealthy
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person's house. Yes,
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from the turn of the century. It is it
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is a mansion. Yes, I was going to say
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huge with a mansion and his workshop or
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you know artist room and everything
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typical for the bourgeoisi of Madrid and
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that took the time at that time.
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So I think yeah
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but it it was the family that left it to
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the state, right? They turned it over to
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the state to make it a
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music. Yeah. And it showcases his
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paintings and personal belongings
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because it was turned over in the manner
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to which he was living there. So it's
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got sculptures, letters, textiles,
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furniture, um all things that um that
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the painter collected throughout his
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life. So it's a it's not just about his
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paintings. That museum is a very very
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interesting sort of overall aspect of
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learning about him. I think
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you just really get into his whole life,
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right? What what maybe maybe begin to
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think what he was thinking as he was
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painting. Absolutely. You know, I was
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looking at his paintings, and I know
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this is common with the impressionist,
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you know, movement, but what um always
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strikes me as amazing is when you look
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at his paintings and from afar, you're
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just like, the detail is insane. And
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then when you get up close, you're like,
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there's no detail at all. How do you do
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that? Like those eyes are so expressive.
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And then you get up close to the camera,
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you're like, it's just two black dots.
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How come from five feet away I'm crying?
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Like I mean, how they do that? It's so
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interesting because the the detail gets
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less as you get closer and you need to
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look at these paintings. I mean, if you
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get closer, obviously you're seeing the
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beauty of the brush strokes and and the
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colors and everything in a different
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way, but when you're step back is where
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you actually see the detail of the
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painting really. You have to be you have
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to be away from it to really see all of
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that. And it is truly
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truly spectacular. So, I'd highly
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recommend if you are not familiar with
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his with his paintings to go and take a
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look online and find a museum with some
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if you can. And if you are familiar with
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him, go back and see it and find his
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come to Madrid and see his house,
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right? And and his and 2,000 paintings.
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He's got paintings all over the world.
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So, hopefully there's one hopefully
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there's one near you.
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There's no shortage.
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That's true. Well, that is our poco poco
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for um Wim Soya. Oh, there we go. Did I
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say it right again?
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You did.
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I'm gonna make you say it now.
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It's Wim Soya or you could say Wim Soya.
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So, it's is it Valenciano or Castiliano
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that you want to go
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say it in? So,
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we hope you enjoyed this. We hope you
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enjoyed a little insight into a a very
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famous Valencian painter. Until the next
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prao,
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adios, amigga.
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Yes, we would. Till the next episode.
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Bye.

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