With busy lives and fast-paced environments, we all need ways to bring a relaxed vibe back into our world as much as possible. Although going to the beach every day is perhaps not a possibility, having images around you of that summertime mood is a pleasure unto itself, and can absolutely function as little reminders here and there about the kind of tone you’d like to set in your life. With warm hues, images of nature and light spirited activities, summertime as a subject matter feels like something to really sink into.
Niki de Saint Phalle-Sur la Plage I
1999 Serigraph
Niki de Saint Phalle-Sur la Plage II
1999 Serigraph
With Niki de Saint Phalle’s artwork, we get nothing but expressions of joy that are fun and colorful while maintaining a cool sophistication. Her Sur la Plage instantly transports us to that enveloping easy-going atmosphere of the beach that lures us all oceanside time and again.
Loulou Picasso’s Boy Swimming is not only an image of swimming— even his style is reminiscent of the dreamy weightlessness of being in the water. His lines are careful and soft, and encourage a slower approach. The print is a stone lithograph as well, and the wonderful richness of plate-tone lend it a truly languid feeling.
"In Eric Fischl’s Beach Scene with Poodle we get that intoxicating summer rhythm where the air around us feels like sunshine. An ecstatic original etching, signed in pencil by Fischl, its tones and brushstrokes veritably engulf you, making your head swim and offering a distinct sensation of daydreaming."
And if anyone knows how to portray the notion that time is of the essence, it would be Hopper. This lovely offset lithograph of his Coast Guard Station, Two Lights, Maine gives us that flavor with his characteristic ability to paint light in ways that make his subjects seem antique and alive at the same time.
In Tennis by Charles Lepas we can almost feel the bright heat of the sun as his lines and color fields are geometric and angular just like the shadows that fall across a tennis court. This interesting silkscreen printed in France in the early 90’s is an uncommon square format on nice thick paper stock, which adds to its vintage appeal as though it were a polaroid.
Matisse shows us his infamous qualities of effortless happiness and peaceful natural life in Le Buisson, where you can almost feel yourself lulling to sleep under the tree. This gorgeous pristine lithograph on luscious, lightly textured Hahnemühle paper is so fine it can’t help but project its calming presence.
And Norman Rockwell is such a master at conveying a mood that you can practically hear the cheery sounds of summertime boardwalk traffic in The Flirts. Light-hearted and confident, it inspires a desire to roll back the cartop and turn up the radio.
Roy Lichtenstein’s work is the epitome of summer beach vibes with his pop-art style bringing to mind comic book reading under large beach towels, bubblegum wrappers and soda bottle labels. His Nudes with Beach Ball helps remind us to worry a little less.
And in Eric Fischl’s Beach Scene with Poodle we get that intoxicating summer rhythm where the air around us feels like sunshine. An ecstatic original etching, signed in pencil by Fischl, its tones and brushstrokes veritably engulf you, making your head swim and offering a distinct sensation of daydreaming.
