Paul McCartney

The Beatles are a key figure in contemporary culture, and Paul McCartney is one of the most successful composers and performers of all time. He has written or co-written 32 songs that have reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and as of 2009, his sales in the United States had reached 25.5 million RIAA-certified units. His honors include two inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (as a member of the Beatles in 1988 and as a solo artist in 1999), 18 Grammy Awards, an appointment as a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1965, and a knighthood in 1997 for services to music.

For more than thirty years, Paul McCartney has been a committed painter, finding in his work on canvas both a respite from the world and another outlet for his creative drive. His paintings were a private endeavor until 1999, when he decided to share his artwork through a public exhibition and a book titled Paul McCartney Paintings.

"Beach Towels" is one of the "summer pictures" McCartney painted on Long Island. It is based on the sensations of a sunny morning at the beach. Beyond that, it exemplifies the various levels of reality in painting. The combination of techniques—such as scratching, wiping, and applying paint directly from the tube—documents the artistic process as it unfolds on the canvas while also creating the illusion of objective realism, with the elements of air, water, and earth. Compared to McCartney's other landscapes, the horizon in this piece is set very high. The illusion of distance and the beach atmosphere, depicted in intense shades of blue and ochre, seamlessly connect to the pictorial level. The break in perspective underscores the fact that this is a painting, an artifice, and emphasizes the relationships between shapes and colors on the canvas.