Mi mujer y mis hijos

My Wife and My Children is a family scene that Joaquín Sorolla painted in 1897, although it is also often dated to 1898, which suggests the work was developed over a period of time. The canvas shows the mother, Clotilde, and their children walking together. The figure of the woman is only barely sketched, dressed in white with a dark bow at the waist, as she gestures toward the small Elena, nearly unclothed, who clings to the robe of her brother Joaquín. On the left, María moves forward, already slightly apart from the group. What stands out most is the unfinished character of the painting: Sorolla resolved the scene with essential strokes and deliberately left some areas unfinished. This economy of means turns the picture into a study of light, movement and the spontaneity of domestic life, closer to a snapshot than to a formal portrait. It is a work that offers a close view of the Valencian painter's interest in capturing the immediacy of everyday scenes and in how light and colour shape the space around them.

Painter

Joaquín Sorolla

Date

1897

Medium

oil paint, canvas

Dimensions

160 × 150 cm

Museum

Sorolla Museum, Madrid

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