Time for a Bathe

Time for a Bathe is undoubtedly a one of a kind piece of artwork by the renown Joaquin Sorolla. Painted in the year 1909 in Valencia, this particular painting was created at a period where Sorolla had come up with an exclusive painting style that had become his signature technique.

Initially, Joaquin Sorolla's paintings were mainly historical as well as social realistic works as inspired by the techniques of many of the Spanish masters like Diego Velazquez and El Greco. However, he adopted a different style on his visit to Paris in 1885 where he saw art coming to life through the creations of his contemporaries. The techniques employed were different from what he had previously learned by studying the works of former artists. Time of a bathe utilizes a special technique which fuses the elements of heavily impastoed pigments with bright softness of impressionism. The stand out feature of this masterpiece is crystal clear depiction of light. The adoption of this technique was greatly influenced by the Impressionist movement whose works touched the heart of Sorolla. In order to make his subjects as real as they can be,Time of a bathe was painted outdoors as were many of his famous paintings. Joaquin Sorolla believed that the room where pictures are stored, was no place to paint. This played a big role in the reproduction of the light effect on the painting.

The Time for a Bathe put to test new configurations by selecting a square design. This was so as to limit the space to make the figures hardly fit. It was a combination of an aerial outlook with the exception of the horizon giving it a photographic snapshot touch.The light is further examined in the water and also sand of the Levante coast depicted in shades of white, purple, pink and blue. This colors at the water's margin are painted in long strokes which are almost flat and at the far end where children play in the surf short sharp strokes. His main inspiration was manifesting the ability of nature, the sun to be precise, to produce color effects. He wanted to capture the impressions of the quickly fading visions of this seaside scene washed by the sun.

This unique artwork is painted on a canvas. It’s framed with vintage ionic pilasters. Sorolla's style was also influenced by Claude Monet who preferred working outside as well. Apart from this fascinating piece of art, he had several other artworks with the same style that were amazing too. The behavior of light in all his paintings varied in respect to the season, setting and also time of the day. In paintings like Walk on the Beach ,the characters are covered in bright unblocked light beams whereas another known as My Wife and Daughters in the Garden depict patches of reflection suggesting sunlight flowing through leaves.

Several other beach scenes he had painted previously and in the same year as the Time of a Bathe with his magnificent style made the Valencian coast and him more famous. This earned Sorolla a commission in the US by the Hispanic Society of America which led to him painting more paintings to communicate the Spanish culture. The Bride from Lagartera of 1912 is an example of such. Though this works were good the were not as excellent as the beach scenes. When he was back home he painted more beach scenes like The Pink Robe of 1916 and the Valencian Fisherwomen of 1915.