After his education, he worked, among other things, as an artist for the Pacific Commercial Company, as an illustrator for the Bureau of Public Works and as a teacher at The School of Fine Arts at the University of the Philippines, a school of which he later became director (in the years 1938–52). In 1916, he received a travel scholarship to the Academia de San Fernando in Madrid from the businessman and art patron Enrique Zóbel de Ayala (1877–1943). During the several months' stay in Madrid, Amorsolo visited museums to study the art that inspired him; for example the baroque painter Diego Velázquez (1599–1660), the French realists and impressionists such as Édouard Manet (1832–1883) and Claude Monet (1840–1926) and the contemporary Spanish artists Ignacio Zuloaga (1870–1945) and Joaquín Sorolla (1863–1923). Especially Sorolla and his use of sunlight to create dramatic effects and contrasts became a great source of inspiration for him, and during his stay he further developed and fine-tuned his own technique based on what he experienced.

Amorsolo became known for his skillful treatment of light and his ability to capture the interplay between light and shade in his paintings. He used chiaroscuro and backlighting to accentuate his figures, bathing them in a special glow. These techniques are what particularly set Amorsolo apart from his Filipino contemporaries and are widely regarded as one of his greatest contributions to Philippine painting.

Amorsolo worked at a time when the Philippines was undergoing major changes – i.a. the island nation, which had previously been a Spanish colony, came under American rule in 1898. Amorsolo gravitated toward the lifestyle he had become familiar with during his childhood in the countryside, which had not yet been influenced by American culture. Although he was inspired by the art of the Western world, it was the Philippine landscape and traditional Filipino culture, customs and occupations that preoccupied him. He painted bright, pastoral and sunshine-filled scenes of the daily life of Filipinos in the countryside – for example farmers harvesting rice, cooking, picking mangoes, washing clothes in the rivers, at parties and markets. He also focused on Filipina ideals of beauty and created a type – the dalagang Filipina – a woman with features that to him represent Filipina beauty and which recur in many of his works - including the present painting. When the Philippines became an independent state in 1946 after World War II, seeking to create its own national identity, Amorsolo's works, considered the epitome of Filipino culture, became an important part of this process. He also painted portraits, self-portraits and war paintings during the Second World War.

The present painting shows one of his favorite motifs: bathing women. Amorsolo has painted several of these idyllic scenes where women bathe in a river surrounded by lush nature. Here, the river in the center of the painting is illuminated by the sun, and Amorsolo has depicted the women's reflections on the surface of the water using vibrant, animated brushstrokes. The foreground is cloaked in darkness, while a few streaks of sunlight filter through the trees, casting warm orange glints of light on the rocks and the seated woman.

Amorsolo achieved great national and international recognition in his time, and at the height of his career, he exhibited several times both in the Philippines and abroad, including in New York, Rome and Belgium. His works have been reproduced in numerous educational books, magazines, newspapers, tourist brochures, advertisements, etc. He also received several honors and awards, including The Gold Medal of Recognition from The UNESCO National Commission. Shortly after his death in 1972, he was posthumously awarded the honor of National Artist of the Philippines as the first artist ever.