Francisco Iturino is regarded as one the most influential artists in Spain at the turn of the century. Thanks to his close relationship with some of the leading artists of the international avant-garde, he was one of the key artists responsible for introducing the renewal in the arts into Spain, playing a critical role in shaping modernism in the country.

This work is a good example of Iturrino’s compositions, in which semi-nude female figures were a recurrent feature. This painting is a playful and dynamic depiction of a group of women removing their clothes by the river. The painter captures the instant as if it were a snapshot, with one of the women staring directly at the beholder in an extremely modern attitude that reveals the influence of photography.

Through the study of the light and atmosphere surrounding the figures, the artist instils the scene with a sense of movement and intensity, reflecting his interest in extolling colour and the human body. The work’s compositional construction acknowledges the profound influence of Paul Cézanne (1839-1906), especially visible in the pleats and folds of the clothing and in the treatment of the background, rendered with successive planes of colour and geometric brushstrokes. At the same time, the bright, colourful palette recalls the work of Henri Matisse (1879-1954), with whom Iturrino was close friends. It is no surprise then that Iturrino championed Fauvist principles in Spain.