Hello Heatwave: 8 Artworks Perfect For Summer

With the sweltering heat signalling a late start to the season, we celebrate the hot spell by looking at all things summer. From Terry O’Neill’s photography on the beach to colourful KAWS canvases, we present you with eight artworks perfect for summertime

With soaring temperatures and increased freedom, the prospects for this year’s summer are tentatively looking up. In celebration of summer finally arriving, if only but a few months late, we present eight artworks guaranteed to help you bask in the sunshine. From remote sand dunes and holiday road trips to sun-kissed landscapes and games on the beach, there is an artwork for everyone in this seasonal mix.

TERRY O’NEILL, AUDREY HEPBURN PLAYS CRICKET, SOUTH OF FRANCE, 1966

Capturing the beloved British actress of the 1960s enjoying some well-deserved down time, Audrey Hepburn Plays Cricket is both a timeless piece as well as being representative of an epoch. Featuring the Oscar award winning actress and humanitarian playing cricket on the beach in the South of France, the black and white photograph is an intimate portrait of Hepburn’s true self.

DAN BALDWIN, STUDY FOR FRAGMENTED LANDSCAPE, 2021 

As bright as it is bold, Baldwin’s pigment and acrylic work conjures up feelings of summer. From the blue sky and white fluffy cloud in the left-hand corner to the warm orange sky punctuated by the elegant silhouette of a forking tree, the patchwork compositions condense 100 days of the summer season in a singular artwork. 

DAVID YARROW, ON THE CATWALK, 2013

Depicting a lone model trekking across a remote sand dune with a cheetah following closely behind, On The Catwalk is as magical as it is captivating. The image evokes an immediate sense of heat with the edges of the landscape blurred due to the rising warmth of the sand. Presenting the viewer with a surrealist scene, Yarrow notes that ‘the story unfolding belongs to the imagination of the viewer, not the artist’.

DAWN OKORO, THE THREE GRACES, 2018

Dynamic, vibrant, vivid – Dawn Okoro’s The Three Graces exudes energy. Known for her depictions of figures on a block colour background, Okoro’s canvases explore ideas of identity and self-reflexivity and are often executed with an unbridled sense of vitality. Capturing the multi-faceted identity of the sitter, as well as a certain joie de vivre, Okoro’s exuberant canvas inspires positivity for the summer ahead.

JEFF KOONS, GAZING BALL (VAN GOGH WHEATFIELD WITH CYPRESSES), 2017 

A reimagination of Vincent Van Gogh’s 1889 painting Wheat Field With Cypresses, Koons’ Gazing Ball (Van Gogh Wheatfield with Cypresses) is part of the artist’s wider series that sees Koons transform classic paintings from the art historical canon by adding his signature reflective material. The original painting by Van Gogh depicts the undulating Provençal landscape, the general location of which, is revealed by the obelisk-like cypress trees native to the region. Van Gogh regarded the work as one of his best summer paintings and Koons’ added reflective element in Gazing Ball only absorbs the viewer further into the warm hills of the French countryside.

TERRY O’NEILL, BRIGITTE BARDOT, DEAUVILLE, 1968

Activist, actress and singer, Brigitte Bardot was a sex symbol of the 1950s and 60s. Known for her hedonistic and sexually emancipated lifestyle, the French pop culture icon was referred to by French writer Simone de Beauvoir as a ‘locomotive of women’s history’. Unapologetically herself and effortlessly sophisticated, O’Neill’s photograph of Bardot captures the spirit of summer, with the actress nonchalantly smoking a cigarette with a flower tucked behind her ear.

KAWS, LOST TIME, ALONE AGAIN, FAR FAR, 2018

A complete set of three screen prints produced by KAWS in 2018, Lost Time, Alone Again, Far Far are a series of colourful silkscreen prints executed on woven paper. The psychedelic set offers a window into the complex mind of Brian Donnelly, otherwise known as KAWS, with twisting pearls of fluorescent patterns rising on the canvas. The tentacular daubs of colour resemble a futuristic coral reef with the chequered anemones of KAWS’ imagination, dancing fluidly across the canvas, emulating the vitality of summer.

 DAVID YARROW, CHATEAU MARMONT, 2019

Photographed as part of Yarrow’s ‘American Road Trip’ series, Chateau Marmont features Victoria’s Secret model Alessandra Ambrosio cruising down Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. With a wolf as her companion, the Brazilian model travels down the iconic stretch of road, with Los Angeles’ infamous hotel, Chateau Marmont as her backdrop. Styled in 1970s garb, Ambrosio evokes an effortless sense of ease that plays into the overall atmosphere of the photograph, transporting viewers into a quintessential seventies’ summer.