Tango Dancers

Many years ago I took dance lessons and learned to Tango… not well, as it takes years to master this dance, but enough to be eternally in love with its elegance. That is why when I saw a photo in a magazine of a couple dancing the Tango I was inspired to try and capture the sensuality of that moment.

After publishing the above painting of The Tango Dancers I received a comment from a good friend in Argentina. He pointed out to me that the traditional instrument that accompanies the tango is the bandoneon, even though the instrument in the photo that I used as a reference was a violin. Not knowing what a bandoneon is I looked it up and discovered that it is a type of concertina, similar to an accordion, but without the typical accordion keyboard.  Also, unlike the accordion which is typically hung from a strap around the musicians shoulder, the bandoneon appears to be rested typically on one of the musicians knees. In order to be true to the dance I did a second version of this painting, shown here, in which I substituted a musician playing the bandoneon.