The museum is housed in Joaquín Sorolla's old family home in the centre of Madrid. The house and gardens were designed by Sorolla himself and he brought back many plants, statues and other items from his painting trips around Spain.
The tiles around the fountains and staircases are all originals bought by Sorolla over a hundred years ago.
Here's a statue of Sorolla himself:
Inside the Andalucian theme continues with El Patio Andaluz:
Sorolla's huge ceramics collection is kept in the areas around the patio (I was lucky in that my parents were able to come and visit for my last week so I could show them around!).
Sorolla's paintings are hung all around the walls of his old studio. The museum has tried to preserve it exactly as he was when he and his family lived in the house; even his brushes and pots are still in place!
This painting was Sorolla's last; he was working on it when he died in 1923:
His paintings are full of colour, movement and sunshine. He enjoyed painting beach scenes and the gardens of his house in Madrid. He especially loved painting his family; his wife Clotilde and three children, Joaquín, María and Elena.
Above is my favourite portrait of Clotilde in the museum. The rest of the house is also pretty luxurious with a Tiffany chandelier in the living room and beautiful painted frieze in the dining room.
I wasn't actually based in the museum itself but in the museum offices which are just around the corner in a separate building. Here is a photo I took of my desk when I first arrived (though this changed many times while I was there) and also a quick snap of the library where we all worked:
My Spanish has definitely improved over my 6 months in Spain; thinking back to October it's amazing how I survived! At first I was the only intern or becaria at the museum but I've made a couple of lovely friends among the few others that arrived after Christmas. Now I'm looking forward to trying something new and after a week's holiday in Andalucía I'll be starting a new placement in Casa del Libro (the huge bookshop on Gran Vía). Check out my earlier blog post to see some photos of the shop: Bookshops in Madrid.
If anyone has any questions about what it's like to work in Madrid, what to expect as an intern, finding an internship/placement in Spain etc don't hesitate to ask! Just leave a comment below, tweet me @MadridAdrift or get in touch via facebook.
Hi, I'm Isabel. I came across your blog whilst looking at museum internships in Spain for this summer. I was wondering how you got the internship at Museo Sorolla, and just what being an intern at a museum entails. Isabel :)
ReplyDeleteHi Isabel, I knew I wanted an internship in a museum in Madrid so just emailed all the museums I could find to ask if they'd take me. Many will only take interns who are studying at Spanish universities so it was quite hard to find a placement. In terms of what I actually did during my internship I was mainly just helping out the office team/marketing team with any tasks that they had. I also worked as a translator for them. I have to say though that there were times when I wasn't given a lot to do. If you're interested I would contact the museums directly and ask them if they'll take you on. I hope that helps, good luck! :)
DeleteI've been researching internships, and the museums that I have been in contact with, have mentioned a 'convenio' between the museum and university. Did you come across this when you were applying? If you know anything, it would be really helpful if you could get back to me :)
DeleteThe convenio is the link between a university and the museum. As I said they normally only let students from Spanish universities work as interns because they already have convenios set up. The museo sorolla was the only museum that offered to sign a convenio with my English uni. This took MONTHS! Almost a full YEAR and was incredibly stressful. The form needs to be signed by members of staff, university lawyers etc and wasn't even finished by October of 2014. I actually flew to Spain without the form finished to try and get the museum to hurry up and sign it. If you definitely know you really want an internship in a Spanish museum then you can attempt to get the museum to set up a convenio. I would say though that it's hardly worth it just for a short summer internship. Why don't you try looking at cultural centres rather than museums? They may have a different system, El matadero in Madrid always looked really cool :)
DeleteThank you sooo much for the advice!! I've been having trouble trying to find out from my uni and the museums, so this was really helpful!! I'll look into some of the culture centres! Thanks again!
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