Following the years she spent at the artists’ colony of Staithes in Yorkshire, Laura Knight moved to Cornwall with her husband, Harold, in 1907. They initially settled in Newlyn before moving to nearby Lamorna in 1908. Here they became closely associated with the flourishing circle of artists that had gathered around Samuel John Lamorna Birch, including Alfred Munnings, Harold and Gertrude Harvey, and Ernest Procter and Dod Shaw.

The move to Cornwall marked an important turning point in Knight’s artistic development. The comparatively sombre palette and closely observed realism of her earlier northern paintings gave way to a brighter, more expansive approach, characterised by a heightened sensitivity to natural light and colour. Influenced by the landscape and the distinctive quality of Cornish light, she increasingly embraced an impressionistic treatment of her subjects, painting outdoors and capturing the vitality of everyday life. This new freedom of expression is particularly evident in Children Swimming in the Harbour, painted in 1916.

By this time, Knight had established a distinctive approach to painting the human figure within the landscape, frequently depicting children and young people absorbed in everyday activities. She was especially drawn to the effects of sunlight on figures, clothing and water, and to the spontaneous movement and vitality of life by the sea. In Children Swimming in the Harbour, she captures an appealing moment of youthful freedom and sociability. The boys, having discarded their clothes, swim from a boat, while the girls remain on the quay, engaged in conversation. The contrast between the activity in the water and the quieter interaction on the harbour-side gives the composition an engaging sense of movement and informal narrative.

This interest in the everyday life of children by the sea had been evident in Knight’s work several years earlier. In the sun, Newlyn and Boys Bathing, Newlyn Quay  (1910), similarly explore the freedom and simple pleasures that children derive from Cornwall’s summer bounty. The subject also relates to her important painting The Boys (1910), which depicts young boys dressing beside an upturned boat on Newlyn Quay and was acquired for the Johannesburg Art Gallery following its exhibition at the Royal Academy. These earlier works provide an illuminating context for Children Swimming in the Harbour, revealing Knight’s enduring fascination with childhood, and the vitality of life around the Cornish harbours.

The painting also acquires an added poignancy when considered in the context of the First World War. In 1915, restrictions were introduced prohibiting artists from painting the coastline, amid official fears that seemingly innocent landscape studies might reveal information of military value to the enemy. These restrictions had a particular impact on the artistic communities of Cornwall. Knight subsequently secured special dispensation to resume painting outdoors, and the coastal subjects she produced during 1916 and 1917 form an important part of her Cornish work. It is notable in Children Swimming in the Harbour that the artist is looking down upon the scene, and her perspective avoids any revelation of harbour details. Against the WW1 background, the carefree activity depicted in Children Swimming in the Harbour offers a striking contrast to the anxieties and privations of wartime life. It is a celebration of childhood, leisure and the enduring pleasures of the seaside, reflecting Knight’s remarkable ability to find vitality and beauty in the world around her.