When the summer season hits, we become a little beach-obsessed here at Flavorpill. As a result, we recently combed the Internet to discover literary greats in old fashioned bathing outfits and rock stars in skimpy swim suits — which has led us to consider, what do artists do (and more importantly, wear) at the beach? From Pablo Picasso playing servant to his baby mama on the French Riviera and Salvador Dali using a washed-up starfish as a monocle on the Spanish coast to Tracey Emin promoting donkey rides on the English shore and Terence Koh flaunting his wedding dress in the East Hampton surf, we’ve found that most artists look fabulous on the beach — even if hours in the studio have left them a little pasty. Click through our gallery of beached artists below.
Pablo Picasso and Francoise Gilot on the French Riviera, 1948 by Robert Capa
Tracey Emin on Margate Beach in England, July 1997 by Ossian Ward
Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock, c. 1938
Salvador Dali with a starfish on the beach in Cadaques, Spain, c.1960
Mary Heilman on the beach in Bridgehampton, NY for Vogue, 2007 by Annie Leibovitz
Robert Rauschenberg, Flying Point Beach, Water Mill, NY, 1959 by John Jonas Gruen
Eric Fischl, The Gang, 2006 (photo-collage with April Gornik, Ross Bleckner, Ralph Gibson, and other artists on the beach in the Hamptons)
Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still #9, 1978 ( shot at artist Robert Longo’s family beach house on the North Fork of Long Island, NY)
Terence Koh on his wedding day in East Hampton, NY in 2009
Willem de Kooning with staff, Water Mill, NY, 1959 by John Jonas Gruen