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  • April 30, 2015

Las tres hermanas en la playa: An important masterpiece by Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida

Arne Everwijn and Lucia Tro Santafe share Sorolla’s great-granddaughter Blanca Pons-Sorolla’s comments on one of the most important paintings by the artist to come to the market in recent years. Las tres hermanas en la playa will be offered in the 19th Century European and Orientalist Art sale on the 15th of June.

Joaquín Sorolla is one of the leading Spanish artists of the early 20th century whose work is widely represented in the most prestigious museums and private collections around the world. Next to being a creative genius, he was a devoted father whose empathy towards children was reflected in an ability to capture their subtleties of expression and movement.

In Las tres hermanas en la playa Sorolla depicts three young sisters holding hands on the water's edge. The composition is intimately cropped, with no horizon line, and one girl skipping into the picture plane from the left, balancing the more static pose of her sisters who contemplate the eddies and waves at their feet. The wet sand has a profound sheen, evoked  in blacks and purples, which contrasts with the lighter tones of the girls’ clothing and the agitated waters which fill most of the canvas. The scene is tenderly observed, but never lapses into the kind of sentimentalism which such a subject might provoke. Rather, Sorolla conveys a naturalism which reflects a deep understanding of the elements and of children, and the reaction of each to the other, resulting in a painting of extraordinary luminosity and feeling.

More from this sale...

Las tres hermanas en la playa: Una importante obra maestra de Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (Spanish)
Fine Art Las tres hermanas en la playa: Una importante obra maestra de Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (Spanish)

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