Ceramics

Sorolla’s love of popular ceramics is clearly evident in the important collection housed at the museum. This interest may reflect the context of intellectual trends of the day, which promoted and celebrated the folk origins of culture, as well as Sorolla’s extensive travels around Spain in relation to the commission for the Hispanic Society, his own Valencian origins, and the construction of his home and studio.

The use of ceramics as an architectural and decorative element is clearly evident in the house’s different spaces. Sorolla employed tiles in the three gardens of his home and in the design of the staircase which leads to the studios. He also decorated the galleries of the Andalusian patio with a fine tile dado and panels and a group of popular ceramics. The patio is also presided over by a fountain faced with Triana tiles.

Other rooms in the house reflect the artist’s love of ceramics, including the dado of tiles from Talavera de la Reina in the room adjoining the dining room, the collection of Manises ceramics in that same room, the group of holy water stoups, and Sorolla’s use of apothecary jars as pots to store his brushes.

The collection offers an extensive overview of Spanish ceramics from the late 15th to the early 20th centuries: tiles, olive oil jars, barber’s bowls, mancerinas [stands for chocolate cups], plates, spice holders, jars, jugs and pitchers, and holy water stoups made in the manufactories at Manises, Paterna, Alcora, Talavera de la Reina, Teruel, Triana and Fajalauza.

Also represented are a few examples of ceramics by contemporaries of Sorolla, including Mariano Benlliure, Daniel Zuloaga, A. Lagos and Josep Guardiola. Finally, there is a more significant collection of 19th-century European ceramics which Sorolla acquired on his travels, as well as South East Asian ceramics.

For more information on these collections, please consult the online catalogue. Search for an item by introducing the name of the work, the subject or the iconography. For a more specific search, introduce the inventory number of these collections in the general search tool. These numbers run from 40023 to 40060.

Online catalogue

Ceramics catalogue