Aurelio Arteta is considered one of the main exponents of the renewal in Basque painting in the first third of the twentieth century. An artist with a solid grounding and a founding member of the , he made a name for himself as a painter of Basque folk customs, a subject matter that led him towards a highly personal aesthetic with the goal of enhancing the everyday through a process of formal refinement.

Descargadoras de carbón en la ría (Coal Unloaders by the River) is an excellent example of the way in which Arteta harmoniously achieved the symbiosis between and modernism that runs throughout his work. Here one can readily discern the classical language, he had assimilated during his time in Italy, as well as the lessons learned from —mostly from Daniel Vázquez Díaz (1882-1969)—especially in the formal simplification, the detailed study of proportions and the architectural composition. In turn, one can discern the influence of Puvis de Chavannes (1824-1898), particularly in the allegorical tone of the representation, removed from the habitual sense of drama in this kind of subject matter, here replaced instead by a harmonious and almost lyrical approach.

The scene is a hymn to women’s industriousness and the invaluable work of the women who, with their effort and tenacity, played such an active role in the development of Basque industry. The composition reminds us of Paisaje urbano con figuras (Urban Landscape with Figures at the Museum, of Fine Arts in Bilbao, from around 1920), when he had already began to make sketches for the series of frescos painted to decorate the rotunda of the Banco de Bilbao building at that time under construction in Calle de Alcalá in Madrid.