Lifeguard 1980

LeRoy Neiman gave us this vivid painting, "Lifeguard", and I just want to dive right into that pool of blues and fleshy oranges! Look at how Neiman loads his brush, slashing vibrant colours across the canvas, a dance of thick impasto strokes that capture the light and energy of the scene. You can almost feel the sun beating down, can’t you? Imagine Neiman, maybe in his element, capturing a moment of leisure and luxury with quick, confident gestures, all that energy going right into the painting. Those peach-toned legs, angled just so, and the way the blues and whites blend, give the painting a spontaneous feel. It's like he's flirting with Impressionism but with a Pop Art twist. He takes a scene and makes it into a Neiman! There’s a real conversation happening in painting, artists riffing off each other across time. You can feel the energy in this painting, and then you realize that we are always adding to it!