Joaquín Sorolla (born in Valencia 1863 - died in Cercedilla 1923) is one of the most successful Spanish painters ever. He was a genius in capturing the essence of the scene he was painting. In Joaquín Sorolla Portraits 3 1911 -1920 Sorolla paints still paints many important portraits although in the course of preparing for his grand masterpiece "The Vision of Spain", which hangs in the Hispanic Society of America, he did not have the same amount of time available. Sorolla also indulged in painting gardens as relaxation from the gigantic "The Vision of Spain" project. The portraits provide a deep and interesting look into both American and Spanish society in this period. In his early years Sorolla often showed social realism, in his culmination period showed the increasingly wealthy sitters that came to him and in his final period he is a celebrated portraitist of rich Americans and a cultural and political elite in Spain.