After Bathing

Painted in the summer of 1915 in Valencia, at the same time as Fisherwomen from Valencia in Room I, this shows a woman with a naked child in her arms wrapped in a white cloth.This scene with its simple subject matter allows Sorolla to devote all his attention to the formal execution of the painting. The theme of emerging from the water and use of white fabrics to experiment with colour and light are often seen in the artist’s work. He made many different versions, encouraged by their success with his clients but also because of the visual interest the subject offered, with some areas of dazzling light and others where the light is filtered through the fabric, the glittering reflections on water and wet skin and the spectacular colour effects on white, where Sorolla’s eye discovered blues, yellows, greens and purples.