Beach Paintings

Beach paintings are popular, there is no doubt. Most people treasure pleasant memories of spending time at the beach. For some perhaps it is the tranquil atmosphere of gentle waves washing over the sandy shore as they stroll along in the sand. Others take delight in the powerful display of nature where towering waves break in the sky and crash down onto the shoreline, leaving a mist of dampness on your skin if you get too close. 
Families building sand castles, the rhythmic plop, plop, plop, plop of a paddle ball game, and the grainy taste of sand in your sandwich, are all powerful memories shared by many. 

You can observe people relaxing at the beach, letting their guards down, and quite literally, often baring it all. It is no wonder that beach settings have featured prominently throughout the history of art.

Dance paintings by the beach

Combining the pleasure of music and dance with beautiful settings at the beach, is a powerful combination that makes the following paintings sing (excuse the pun).

Whatever your fascination with the beach, here are original beach paintings by Theo Michael to fall in love with.

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Beach Painting, Dance Painting by the beach an oil painting by Theo Michael titled The Beach Quartet

The painting The Beach Quartet

A painting inspired by the movie Zorba The Greek. Once seen, who can forget the iconic dance scene on the beach with Anthony Quinn.
How ironic, as many believe, that no real Greek has ever looked so Greek on the screen as this half Irish, half Mexican American actor Anthony Quinn.
The Beach Quartet, in a muted colour palette, focuses on two male dancers, with two musicians in the background. The dark looming clouds dancing across the painting, not only threatening the dancers, but also framing them. They display a zest for life, just like in the film. Dance, a metaphor for life itself.

beach painting, dance painting, an oil painting by Theo Michael titled The Beach Quartet Lady In Red

The Painting Lady In Red

The Lady In Red is a reworking of the previous painting of the Beach Quartet, commissioned by a UK dress manufacturer, who insisted changing one of the characters in the painting to feature a beautiful lady in red, paying homage to his favourite actress, Sophia Loren.

This client, being a Greek Cypriot, also requested to add the traditional Greek musicians to the painting of an accordion and bouzouki player.

Beach Painting, oil painting by The beach featuring young women by Theo Michael

The painting Endless Summer

The setting is Ayia Napa’s Nissi Beach. In this painting, Endless Summer the artist focused on the girls, capturing their elegant postures frozen in time in contrast to the blowing scarves in orange, green and blue.
You wish the moment would never fade, an endless summer indeed.

Dance art, beach painting Tribute To The Singing Butler by Theo Michael

The painting Tribute To The Singing Butler

This painting, a commission from an umbrella company was the birth of this artwork. Their criteria was to capture the spirit of Jack Vettriano’s Singing Butler, one of the UK’s best selling art prints, outperforming Monet and Klimt.

The troubled Butler wiping his brow was added to inject humour, and you will notice, the servants have lost their umbrella to the wind.

Tribute to Jack Vettriano, an oil painting by Theo Michael titled Moonlight Dancers

The painting Moonlight Dancers

A fantasy of many people is a home in a Mediterranean country, close to the beach where a moonlight dance is no longer a dream but a reality.
The popularity of Dancers Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire were the inspiration for this painting.

Incidentally the oil painting was sold to a couple who were looking for more blue in their bedroom as shown below. 

beach painting Moonlight Dancers hanging beautifully in a blue bedroom, an oil painting by Theo Michael
Dance painting by the beach under the moonlight by Theo Michael

Moonlight Dancers

Moonlight Dancers

From €90.00 EUR
From €90.00 EUR
Chess painting the Chess Players by the beach by Theo Michael

The painting The Chess Players

Many games are played out doors and on the beach, such as backgammon and playing cards. This painting focuses on chess, the game of Kings. The players and spectators are silently engrossed and oblivious to the change of weather, as the sky darkens above their heads, and the looming clouds are settling in.
Chess is a game and it is friendly. Not sure if these guys in the painting are aware of this...
Read this short story to find out !

Dance art, a beach painting by Theo Michael titled The Last Dance

The painting The Last Dance

This painting inadvertently caused more debate than any other of Theo's.
Why was the male dancer holding a large knife in his hand?
What were his intentions?
This intriguing idea for a painting nearly backfired as the buyer suddenly refused to part with his money. He didn’t want to be associated as having a dark side to himself. He consulted a psychiatrist friend who put his mind to rest. She pointed out that the male had his foot slightly raised in a dance position, and that the knife was only a prop for a Greek dance tradition. The sale went ahead.

The lady, dressed seductively in a deep red dress, has the sun breaking brightly above her head.

The male, his head in deep shadow is dressed in white, with dark breaking clouds looming above him.
The Last Dance, perhaps a battle of good and evil.

Honourable mentions, Dancing In The Rain and Dance To The End Of Love

here is no beach in these two paintings, but as they say the customer knows always best. The first painting Dance To The End Of Love was requested by a couple who love Tango dancing and teach the dance in a local cafe in town, not far from the beach.
The second painting, Dancing In The Rain was requested by a film buff who loves the movies of Audrey Hepburn, Rita Hayworth, Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire. This is a homage to the actors, in particular to Gene Kelly's dance scene in the movie Singing in The Rain.

Dance art, an oil painting by Theo Michael, Dance To The End of Love
Dance painting titled Dancing In The Rain by Theo Michael, created in March 2021

More paintings to fall in love with