Anthony Weitz takes on the challenge of painting a changing Malta.
An IMGlobalWealth.com Trend Setters Feature
The South African-born painter, shaped by Switzerland’s discipline and the Mediterranean’s light, reflects on plein air practice, artistic migration, and the creative compromises required when beauty, scale, and development collide. This interview was led by Ray de Bono, Editor-in-Chief of IMGlobalWealth, as part of the publication’s Trend Setters and Lifestyle series.
“Thankfully, things looked a bit better the next day after two pastizzi and a stiff Americano”
This is not a lifestyle portrait nor a celebration of place. Weitz’s reflections are practical, occasionally blunt, and shaped by daily experience rather than nostalgia. His observations on Malta, its light, constraints, overdevelopment, and creative fatigue, are offered not as complaint but as fact. What emerges is a portrait of adaptation rather than idealisation.
Q.1 After a long career in commercial illustration, what led you towards plein air painting?
After a 25–year career in commercial illustration, I became interested in painting ‘en plein air’ ala the French Impressionists, as a way of getting out into the fresh air, and painting on location.
30 or so years ago there were a number of British artists who published books on the genre, and once I saw what they were capable of, I was a disciple.
Q.2. You left South Africa in 1989 and spent many years in Switzerland. How did Malta enter the picture?
Renata Apan
After leaving South Africa in 1989, I had spent 20 years living and working in Switzerland, and I had been on the lookout for a sunny getaway to retire to. After tours in Asia, around Europe and even Panama, I was particularly impressed with the light and lifestyle in the Greek Islands.
After a colleague returned to Switzerland with glowing tales of sailing his boat into the Grand Harbour, in his words, “It was like sailing into a scene from a Robin Hood movie”, I decided to give Malta a look.
The naive idea was, ‘quasi-Greek island, tszatziki, ouzo, and they speak English!’… Not so much. I arrived late at night, and the taxi ride from the airport was through a grim industrial zone. No palm trees, no open rolling fields…
Thankfully, things looked a bit better the next day after two pastizzi and a stiff Americano.
Q.3 How would you describe your working approach as a plein air painter?
Plein air painting is like going on a fishing trip, with the knowledge that you will always come back with a catch.
The logistics can be surprisingly complex – checking the weather report for wind direction can dictate location. Seasons, especially in summer, can dictate preferential starting time (i.e., sunrise), and options for shade cover.
Of course, gear is critical too – every plein air painter worth his salt has arrived on site to discover that the tube of titanium white, or a favourite cobalt blue, has not been packed.
Q.4 How have different cultural environments influenced your work over time?
South Africa’s fauna and flora had a powerful influence on me, and my work reflected that. Moving to Switzerland, and comparing the domesticated and manicured fields of St Gallen and the Bodensee to the wild open spaces of Botswana and the Makgadigadi, was a visceral shock to the senses.
Source: Štěpán’s experimental’s
The idea of painting bucolic pastoral scenes of Swiss farms and ending up with chocolate box postcards seemed laughable.
The Swiss advertising scene is extremely sophisticated, and the art market even more so. Escaping to the Mediterranean Sea, sitting under a straw hat and painting jolly fishing boats seemed irreverent, the very antithesis of stern Swiss sophistication, and highly appealing to me.
“We’ll always have the sea.”
Q.5 Malta is often praised for its light. How do you experience it as a painter?
From a painter’s perspective, Malta presents pros and cons. Yes, the light is great, chiaroscuro and all that, dramatic deep purple shadows, and a sea of many colours. But challenges there are aplenty.
Firstly, the island is small, a mere 27 x 19 km (approx.), so after you have painted the same location 10 times, one starts yearning for distant shores.
Then you have the summer – blistering sun by 10.00 am, which makes most painters wilt at the knees. This is the season to escape to Mdina, the silent city, where you can set up your easel in the cool shade cast by tall, ancient stone walls.
Q.6 How has Malta’s changing built environment affected your practice?
Much has been said about the diminishing quality of life in Malta, due to the overpopulation and hyper-construction. It’s all true.
As a painter, one has to resort to creative means to adapt to an environment with visually ever-diminishing returns.
In summer, leave for location before the hordes head for the CBD, that means at 5.45am. Stop complaining, it’s perfect timing, the sun rises at 6.00am. By the time you’ve parked and set up your gear, the sun is already reflecting off the sea in front of you.
Q.7 How would you characterise the art scene in Malta today?
For the art socialites into art galleries and opening nights, Malta is a smorgasbord. Three or four shows seem to open every week.
There are thousands of artists, and tens of thousands of ‘Sunday Painters’. Considering the size of the population and the small percentage of serious art collectors, the vibrancy of the art scene remains one of Malta’s enduring mysteries.
The creative energies of the Maltese seem to be driven by innate DNA, not market realities or commercial demands.
Q.8 Looking ahead, how do you see the future from a painter’s perspective?
Analogies from famous movies –
Casablanca – “We’ll always have Paris”
Malta – “We’ll always have the sea.”
𝑨𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝑨𝒏𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒚 𝑾𝒆𝒊𝒕𝒛
