Grupa valenciana

Grupa valenciana is a 1906 oil painting in which Joaquín Sorolla depicts two of his daughters, Elena and María, riding a chestnut horse and dressed in traditional Valencian costumes. The title refers to the festive custom of riding 'a la grupa', that is, on the horse's hindquarters, with one rider at the front holding the reins and a companion seated behind. The younger girl, Elena, wears a masculine outfit in a style associated with the men of Torrent and firmly grips the reins, while María wears a labradora's dress from the Valencian huerta with floral patterns and traditional hairstyle and ornaments. The almost square canvas is nonetheless dominated by its horizontal emphasis. The foreground has more carefully worked brushwork and vivid colour, while the background is blurred and shadowed, with a sunlit strip showing varied greens. Sorolla resolves the contrast between the dark red of the saddlery and the pale costumes through shadows built from complementary colours. It was a preliminary study for another family portrait and one of the last works for his major solo exhibition in Paris, where he presented society portraiture and luminous colour that brought him European fame.

Painter

Joaquín Sorolla

Date

1906

Medium

oil paint

Dimensions

200 × 187 cm

Museum

Museu de Belles Arts de València, Valencia

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