Time for a Bathe, Valencia

In the summer of 1909 Sorolla experimented with new compositions where he chose a square format, restricting the space so that the figures hardly fit into it. Combined with the high viewpoint without sky or horizon, this gives the composition the feeling of a photographic snapshot. The water and sand again allow an in-depth analysis of the dazzling light of the Levante coast broken down into nuances of colour; white, pink, purple and blue are applied with long, almost flat brushstrokes of colour at the water’s edge and short rapid strokes further away where the children are playing in the surf.This canvas and the following one still hang where Sorolla placed them when he was alive, in their original frames with classical Ionic pilasters.