A life spent painting the world
From the galleries of New York to the decks of Oceania Cruises — Pat Grillo has spent decades turning the world's most extraordinary places into art.
I paint because the world is too beautiful not to. And the sea — the sea is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.
— Pat Grillo
The beginning
Pat Grillo grew up surrounded by art. Raised in a family that valued creativity and craftsmanship, she began painting as a child and never stopped. By her early twenties she had studied under some of the most respected painters in the Northeast, developing a style that blended classical technique with a deeply personal sense of color and light.
Her early career took her through the New York gallery circuit, where her luminous landscapes and seascapes quickly attracted collectors. But it was travel — and the particular quality of light found only at sea — that would define her artistic identity.
Artist in Residence, Oceania Cruises
Pat joined Oceania Cruises as Artist in Residence more than a decade ago, and the partnership has been transformative for both artist and guests. Sailing aboard Oceania's intimate, destination-focused ships, she paints the ports, coastlines, and seascapes encountered on each voyage — working in oils and acrylics, often completing a painting in a single sitting while the scene is still before her.
Her onboard art classes have introduced hundreds of guests to the joy of painting, regardless of prior experience. Whether someone has never held a brush or is a seasoned amateur, Pat's teaching style is warm, encouraging, and deeply practical — focused on seeing, not just technique.
800+ paintings sold at sea
Over the course of her residency, Pat has sold more than 800 original paintings aboard Oceania's fleet. Each work is a one-of-a-kind original, painted for the voyage where it was inspired. Collectors have carried her paintings home to every corner of the world — a testament to the universal appeal of art that captures a real place, at a real moment, by a real hand.
Her paintings are not reproductions or prints. They are originals — the actual canvas she stood before, brush in hand, as the Mediterranean light shifted or the Caribbean sky turned gold. That authenticity is at the heart of everything she does.
I paint because the world is too beautiful not to. And the sea — the sea is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.
— Pat Grillo
Sail with Pat
Join Pat on an upcoming Oceania Cruises voyage — take a class, collect an original, or simply be inspired.