The stories behind the paintings

A small fishing boat rides a grey-green swell. In the bottom lie two drowned men among nets and straw, one face down with his bare back to the sky, the other on his back with his eyes closed. Above them sits the only survivor, in a red beret and checked shirt, his chin resting on his hand, staring at nothing. Gulls wheel over the waves. Shipwrecked ( Náufragos ), painted in 1896 by the Basque artist Joaquín Bárbara y Balza, is a shipwreck picture with no storm in it at all: only the silence after. Joaquín Bárbara y Balza, Shipwrecked (Náufragos), 1896. Oil on canvas. Museo del Prado, on deposit in Alicante. Image via the Sapiens Verbum print shop. 🖼️ Get this painting as a print → Quick facts Artist: Joaquín Bárbara y Balza (1867–1931) Date: 1896 Medium: Oil on canvas, 184.7 × 253.4 cm Collection: Museo del Prado (P007209), on deposit at the Museo de Bellas Artes de Alicante (MUBAG) Context: Painted in Rome during the artist's state scholarship What does the painting...