Paseo a orillas del mar

The water and sand at the seashore, executed with long blue, mauve and turquoise green brush strokes, conform an abstract background for the stylized figures of Clotilde and Maria, wife and daughter of the painter, Joaquín Sorolla. The waiving dresses and the chiffon from the hats –we must remember the elegant women were to keep their skin white- adds a decorative and curved emphasis to the composition, and the suggestion of the breeze moving them and forcing Clotilde to take down her parasol and grabbing her Pamela hat puts a stress in the feeling of snapshot, as well as the photographic framing cutting Clotilde’s hat and leaving a stripe without sand in the bottom part. Painted in the summer of 1909 at Valencia beach, “Strolling along the Seashore” is a work of deceptive lightness; but the dimensions of the canvas, that denounces its ambition, also amplifies the impact of its simple composition and its big stains of fresh colours. These components make of this work a spectacularly modern masterpiece.