iMuseo SorollaChamberí
The opening show of the new extension traces Sorolla's house from its 1905 design with architect Repullés to today, through paintings, drawings, plans, letters and photographs.
Soon after moving in, Sorolla had a big window cut into the north wall of his studio. Years later it was bricked up again, and Desde el ventanal del estudio (c. 1914-1919) is one of the few traces of it left. The show starts there.
Then it goes back to 1905 and the first plots of land, and to the house Sorolla planned with the architect Enrique María Repullés y Vargas for living, painting and receiving guests. Plans, letters, photographs, paintings and an architectural model follow the build, the gardens he designed and the 20th-century changes. You finish among contemporary artists' photographs and video of the house standing empty after it closed, which for the next few years is the closest you will get to those rooms.
The subject is the building, not Sorolla's beaches. Entry is free, with tickets only at the desk at Calle Zurbano 68, and Jonás Bel's documentary on the building works screens alongside.
Desde el ventanal del estudio (c. 1914-1919)
Look for this painting at the start: one of the few records of the north-wall window Sorolla opened in his studio, later bricked up again.
The empty house
The last room shows contemporary artists' photographs and video of Sorolla's house standing empty after the museum closed for its rehabilitation.
Hacer museo, the documentary
Jonás Bel's film follows the museum from the day the house closed to the building of the new extension you are standing in.
You want to see Sorolla's actual house: it stays closed for rehabilitation, and only the new building is open.