Sorolla's generation represented the pinnacle of centuries of artistic development. Among all of his contemporaries, Sorolla was probably the most gifted, which explains his fabulous success. However, artistic trends changed at breakneck speed and the art world soon forgot about him. Nevertheless, the general public never turned their backs on him because his paintings, brimming with sparkling light, speak directly to the heart of the spectator. Sorolla's continued popularity with ordinary art museum goers has once again attracted the attention of crities and historians to his art. Sorolla's trajectory refutes all the cliches about the history of art.