The Nereids

Joaquín Sorolla's 'The Nereids' (1886) is an early mythological subject from the Spanish painter who would later become celebrated for his luminous beach scenes of Mediterranean light. His engagement with classical mythology in this early work placed him within the Spanish academic tradition while already showing his attraction to the water and light subjects that would define his mature style. The Nereids — the sea nymphs of Greek mythology, daughters of the sea god Nereus — gave him a subject that combined the female figure with the sea environment that would become central to his most celebrated later work.

Sorolla renders the Nereids with the technical competence of his academic training combined with the beginning of the interest in water and luminous light that would characterize his mature style. The female figures in or near the sea create the formal challenge of combining figure study with water observation. His early handling of Mediterranean light and sea conditions already shows the direction of his developing artistic personality even within the mythological academic subject.