Matilla i Marina’s painting could be defined as impressionistic-nuanced naturalism. This Catalan artist takes his starting point from reality, which he then interprets with an expressiveness that is restrained yet at once highly plastic, reminiscent in ways of his coeval Eliseu Meifrèn (1857-1940).

Seascapes and views of rivers play a major role in much of his production, for they allowed him to depict water and its reflections, something very characteristic of the language of Luminism. This type of work was much in demand at the time and ensured the artist success as well as a regular clientele.

This work showcases some of the main features of the artist’s mid-career period. Worth highlighting is the difference in the treatment of the sea of the background, with an intense colour and greater impasto, and the calm surface at the shore in the foreground, which the painter rendered with light tones and thin layers of paint. We would further underscore the importance of the study of light, with the contrast of the tones of evening light bathing the rocks with the blue of the sky, giving the painting as a whole great modernity.