Gypsy girl with cherries (A Girl on a beach).

This 1900 canvas, held in the Museum of John Paul II Collection, depicts a young girl — identified as Romani in type — on a beach holding cherries, a combination of figure, fruit, and coastal setting that places it within the tradition of genre painting celebrating Mediterranean childhood. The subject of a girl with cherries had a long history in European painting as a vehicle for conveying freshness, transience, and the sensory pleasures of summer. Sorolla's version grounds the type in a specific social context: Romani communities had a persistent presence along the Spanish Mediterranean coast, their children often the subjects of genre painters who found in them a combination of picturesque appearance and perceived freedom from bourgeois convention. The title's dual form — 'Gypsy girl with cherries (A Girl on a beach)' — suggests the painting circulated under both descriptive headings, the first emphasising ethnic identity, the second the more universal subject of childhood and seaside. Sorolla's handling avoids exoticism in favour of direct, sympathetic observation.

The girl's figure against the beach background allowed Sorolla to explore the light quality specific to coastal settings — a highly reflective environment where light comes from above, below, and the sides simultaneously. The cherries provide a compact chromatic accent of deep red against the broader tonal composition.