The Horse’s Bath

Originally called The White Horse, this is undoubtedly one of the most significant of Sorolla’s canvases, and one of his most appreciated and popular works. With its symphony of whites and blues, it is characteristic of the paintings of Sorolla dating from 1909 at El Cabañal beach in Valencia.The composition of this painting shows a resource Sorolla often used: a high viewpoint, here at the level of the boy who is pulling on the horse’s bridle, creating a long foreground and relegating the line of the horizon to a narrow strip in the upper part of the canvas. This way, the artist avoids the dazzle of the luminous sky and concentrates on the shore with its interesting visual effects; the light reflected on the bodies and the water, and the shadows on the sand.