News RELEASE
April 28, 2023

The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo Acquires August Strindberg’s
Inferno and Joaquín Sorolla’s The Drinking Jug
In 2022, the National Museum of Western Art (NMWA, director: Tanaka Masayuki, 7-7
Ueno Koen, Taito-ku, Tokyo) acquired the painting Inferno* by August Strindberg (1849-1912)
and the painting The Drinking Jug ** by Joaquín Sorolla (1863-1923).
Strindberg was a major 19th century Swedish author known primarily for his play Miss
Julie who was also active as a painter. Using a palette knife to create bold, thickly applied
strokes, his experimental paintings characterized by abstraction, and their extemporaneous
inclusion of unexpected effects. These works are considered to be precursors to the various
avant-garde art movements of the 20th century, and their remarkable re-evaluation continues
today. This work Inferno (1901) based on Dante’s Inferno and dubbed “my Inferno painting” by
the artist himself is considered one of Strindberg’s most important paintings.
Joaquín Sorolla, on the other hand, was a nationally renowned Spanish painter, activefrom the end of the 19th century through the beginning of the 20th century. Internationally hewas known for his depictions of the lands and people of Spain in the brilliant light of theMediterranean. Working primarily en plein air, he created his own unique paintings that weredubbed Luminism for their evoking the sensations woven from the play of sunlight. Sorolla
contributed to the modernization of Spanish art. The Drinking Jug is considered to be one of his
major works and is the first of his paintings to enter the NMWA collection. The painting will be
displayed this year, with 2023 marking the 100th anniversary of his death.
The NMWA’s acquisition of works by the Swedish author Strindberg and the Spanish
painter Sorolla helps diversify the geographic range of the NMWA’s latter half of the 19thcentury to early 20th century collection which is largely French art. We hope that these newworks will provide visitors with an all the more diverse viewing experience.
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Strindberg’s Inferno is now on display in the NMWA Permanent Collection Galleries, andSorolla’s The Drinking Jug will be displayed in the special exhibition Imaged and Imagined:
Spain Seen through Prints from Japanese Collections (July 4 (Tues) – September 3 (Sun.),2023).

* For details on this painting, see its NMWA collection database entry,
https://collection.nmwa.go.jp/P.2022-0001.html** For details on this painting, see its NMWA collection database entry,
https://collection.nmwa.go.jp/P.2022-0002.html

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■August Strindberg’s Inferno

August Strindberg
Inferno1901
oil on canvas
100 x 70 cm
Signed and dated (lower right): Aug S-g 1903
P.2022-0001

About the Painting:This novel composition features what appears to be a windswept maelstrom beyond a grotto-like
opening, surrounded by dense green foliage. Strindberg created this ragged, wild composition
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when his third marriage to the young actress Harriet was suddenly plunged into a serious crisis.
This inferno-like dark grotto can be seen as reflecting Strindberg’s own sense of despair. The
artist himself saw the work as a type of psychological self-portrait, and it hung on the wall of hisown home for many years. Later the work was long on deposit at Sweden’s Nationalmuseum andat Moderna Museet, Stockholm.

About the Painter:
August Strindberg (Stockholm, 1849-1912)
Strindberg was a major Swedish playwright and novelist. He wrote more than 60 plays
over the course of his life, as well as novels, poems, art critiques, and books on history, scienceand alchemy. Along with his writing, Strindberg was also known for his distinctive paintings andphotographs. Strindberg did not have formal art training, but rather diverted various periods in
his life to the production of painting (1892-94, 1901-02, 1903, 1905). These times overlapped
periods when he found it hard to write, such as those which saw the breakdown of his marriages
or political strife. This timing led to the sense that his paintings were autobiographical,expressionist works.

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■Joaquín Sorolla’s The Drinking Jug

Joaquín Sorolla
The Drinking Jug
1904
oil on canvas
151 x 98 cm
Signed and dated (lower left): J. Sorolla y Bastida / 1904
P.2022-0002

About the Painting:
Sorolla created this work on the beach of his hometown Valencia, in the late summer of 1904, hismature period. A small simple hut by the shore is the setting for a young woman giving a child a5

drink of water from a jug. The half-open door in the background lets in a single ray of brightsunlight. The painting reflects Sorolla’s affection for children, and his magical command ofcolors that capture the effects of light. This work was featured on a postal stamp issued by Spain
in 1964 to commemorate the centenary of his birth.

About the Painter:
Joaquín Sorolla (Valencia 1863 – Cercedilla 1923)
Born in Valencia, Sorolla was a proudly Spanish painter, greatly renowned both in Spainand overseas for his depictions of the scenery and people of his homeland bathed in bright
Mediterranean light. Sorolla was first recognized for his social realist paintings in the national artexhibitions held in Madrid, and also made a name for himself in international public exhibitions.
He later received numerous commissions for portraits, and around 1900 he developed his own
distinctive style, using swift brushstrokes to convey sunlight’s myriad sensations. Sorolla worked
en plein air, depicting the seaside customs and scenery around him. Today his home and studio inMadrid are open to the public as the Sorolla Museum.

For press enquiries, please contact:
NMWA Public Relations Officec/o Youth Planning Center
E-mail: nmwa@ypcpr.com(Office hours: Weekdays, 10:00 – 18:00, closed on Saturdays, Sundays, and Public Holidays.)6