Love on Beach 21: Alexy Berthelot

Alexy Berthelot has a thing for series. His Beach Boys and Meditation collections, often organised around numbered themes, move away from the idea of the individual portrait. Instead, his figures become archetypes: familiar, almost dreamlike presences that feel less like people being observed and more like moments we’ve somehow stepped into.

A self-taught artist based in Geneva, Berthelot moves between figurative art, abstraction and surrealism, creating an intimate, highly aesthetic universe. His work feels poetic and imaginative, with a particular fascination for masculine beauty, intimacy and vulnerability. There’s something quietly compelling about the way he explores the male form without sacrificing its softness. Beauty, here, doesn’t need to shout.

This painting brings together three young men, seen from behind as they walk into the sea. It’s a classic composition, but one that works beautifully. Standing side by side, they draw us into their world, placing us just behind them, looking out at the same horizon. We’re not observing them so much as joining them for a moment.

They’re caught mid-stride, their feet breaking through the shallow surf. The subtle alternation of heels and legs creates an easy, almost musical rhythm, carrying the eye gently from one figure to the next. Nothing feels forced. It’s movement without urgency, a little slice of summer that seems to exist outside time.

The figures seem almost incandescent against the sea, their warmth intensified by the coolness surrounding them. You can practically feel the heat, hear the gentle wash of the water and imagine the sand beneath your feet.

It’s a painting about bodies, certainly, but also about atmosphere, companionship and that fleeting moment when the world seems to slow down. Three boys, the open sea, the sun on their skin.

What’s not to love?