After Bathing

On this day in 1863 Joaquín Sorolla, a Spanish painter who excelled in a dexterous representation of the people and landscape under the bright sunlight of Spain and sunlit water, was born. Just look at today's painting.

After Bathing was painted by Joaquín Sorolla when he was just 29 years old and his career as an artist had barely begun. It was one of the ten works that the painter entered in the Spanish National Exhibition of 1892.

The piece depicts a young woman sitting on the floor of what appear to be old thermal baths, lined with large marble flagstones. The artist shapes the woman’s body with firm, meticulous lines, as well as a certain delicacy reminiscent of the great maestro of Greek and Roman evocation, Lawrence Alma-Tadema, whose work Sorolla knew and admired. Sorolla deploys his expertise by contrasting the softness of flesh with the hardness of marble, tracing the stone’s veining, with the faint reflection of the naked body on top. Moreover, the painter plays with different tones—the woman’s skin, the marble, and the sheet—demonstrating his command of the color white, which would become a characteristic trait of his later work.

We present today's work thanks to Museo Sorolla, the place to check if you want to know more about this amazing artist.  : )

P.S. Here are eight things everyone should know about Joaquin Sorolla!