057*. ENGONOPOULOS Nikos (1910-1985)

‘Idylle’

Signed study in tempera/mix.media on paperboard 38×30 cm

€ 5.000 – 6.000

It is through the polysemy of surrealist art and a clear allusion to the ancient Greek world (acropolis) that the artist uniquely presents this wonderful complex with the enigmatic figures placed in an unorthodox space. Rendering the figures and their surroundings with a symbolic, surrealistic and scenographic mood, the artist presents the naked human bodies with a timelessness drawn from the common grounds between Byzantine tradition and ancient Greek culture. The costume of the female form clearly alludes to the ancient Greek world yet coexists harmoniously with the smoothing of perspective, the one-dimensional monochromatic background, the rendering of the body volumes and red of the garment, which in turn directly echoes Byzantine tradition.

Ref. ‘N.Engonopoulos’ publ. The Benaki Museum Athens 2007 variant shown p. 354,355

PROV. Private collection Athens