Patrick O'Brien

Patrick O’Brien is an award-winning artist whose striking paintings depict the classic age of fighting sail. An illustrator and painter since the 1980’s, O’Brien entered the marine art field in 2003. His first entry to the prestigious Mystic International Marine Art Exhibition won an Award of Excellence. In 2012, The National Maritime Historical Society awarded O’Brien with their Distinguished Service Award at a gala dinner in Washington DC.

O’Brien has had one-man-shows of his artwork in New York City, Portsmouth VA, and here at the Annapolis Marine Art Gallery. In 2010 the U.S. Naval Academy Museum mounted a retrospective exhibition entitled “The Maritime Art of Patrick O’Brien,” featuring twenty-eight paintings by the artist. SEE BELOW FOR VIDEO OF THE NAVAL ACADEMY EXHIBITION.

In October 2010 at Mystic Seaport’s prestigious annual International Marine Art Exhibition, the Patrick O’Brien painting “The Great White Fleet in the Straits of Magellan” won the most prestigious award of all, the Museum Purchase Award. This means that the Mystic Seaport Museum has purchased the painting for its permanent collection.

O’Brien’s paintings have been featured several times on the cover of Naval History magazine, published by the U.S. Naval Institute, and several times on the cover of Sea History magazine, published by the National Maritime Historical Society. Mr. O’Brien lives in Baltimore, Maryland with his wife and son.