Under the Awning, on the Beach at Zarautz

Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida was a Spanish Valencian painter who excelled in beach scenes. All his beach paintings are so full of light and air when you look at them, you can almost feel the sea breeze. Sorolla became the chronicler of the "at the seaside" phenomenon. The artist and his family followed the fashion of holidaying at a resort, an upper-class trend that was becoming well-established in wealthy families. Resorts on the north coast, such as San Sebastian, Santander, or Biarritz were considered the most suitable for seaside holidays, as the cooler weather meant that even at the seaside, the fashion-conscious could still dress elegantly.

This canvas, painted during the summer of 1910 on the beach at Zarautz, shows the whole Sorolla family under an awning that is out of sight. The figures are elegantly dressed, and the beach is depicted as a setting for bourgeois, cosmopolitan social appearances rather than for spontaneous enjoyment.