Beach Scene 1982

Malcolm Morley made this painting, Beach Scene, with swift brushstrokes in a bright and sunny palette. Imagine him working en plein air, trying to capture the immediacy of the scene. Look at how the paint is applied—thick in some areas, thin in others. The texture alone gives the painting a tangible, almost tactile quality. The artist throws paint at the surface and seems to have left many marks to chance. The whole painting becomes a record of its making. The black brushstrokes in the ocean might be a place where the artist has gone back in to rework and redefine some of the space, pushing and pulling areas into focus. Morley was fascinated by the space between representation and abstraction. Many artists have tried to capture the feeling of a summer's day, but Morley invites us to think about what painting itself can do and to consider the act of seeing as a playful and uncertain process. It's a reminder that painting is always a conversation across time, with each artist building on the ideas of those who came before.