Barcas y pescadoras, Playa de Valencia

Executed on cardboard — a support Sorolla used for rapid outdoor studies when speed and portability mattered more than permanence — this sketch of boats and fisherwomen on Valencia Beach belongs to the working study category of his output: direct observations made on site that served as raw material for larger canvases or that existed as complete works in their own right. The Valencia beach fishing community was Sorolla's most sustained documentary subject, and multiple studies on board and cardboard record the boats, nets, and figures of this community across different times of day and weather conditions. Cardboard as a support produced a particular surface quality — absorptive, giving oil paint a matte, chalky appearance in thin areas — that suits the rapid, sketchy approach Sorolla employed for these records. The subject of fishing boats drawn up on the beach with women working nearby was so deeply embedded in his visual language that he could produce convincing accounts of it from habit as well as observation.

Cardboard support absorbs oil from the paint rapidly, producing a slightly matte, chalky surface that alters the chromatic quality compared to canvas. Sorolla exploited this for the freshness of the sketch, applying paint quickly and reading the result against the light absorbency of the board.