MURA · THE COLLECTION

The Sardine Sunbathers

Five striped deckchairs by a turquoise pool, four of them occupied by sardines in sunglasses and a straw hat, the fifth holding a lemon. Bougainvillea, a lemon tree, a cocktail, a book called Good Fish Vibes, and two hand-lettered signs on the wall. Coloured pencil. Nobody is doing anything.

Mura Studio · 2026 · Colour pencil · Contemporary · story written 25 September 2026

What is going on

Sardines are the fish that get packed tight and go nowhere; here they have the pool to themselves and all the time in the world. The signs say Sardines Do Nothing Club and Salt Sun Sardines Forever, which is the whole manifesto. The chairs are red, yellow, green, purple and blue, the pool is drawn tile by tile, and a pink inflatable ring floats in the corner.

How to look at it

Take it left to right, chair by chair. Each fish has its own accessory and its own posture, and the empty fifth chair with the lemon is the invitation. Then look at the pool, where every tile is a slightly different blue and the water wobbles over them. The lettering on the signs and the book is hand-drawn and slightly uneven, which is what keeps the picture from being a product.

Why it is in Mura

Play, Please, mood vibrant. It is the work Mura chose for its Apple TV screenshots in September 2026, and it is the one most likely to make a room laugh.