Flowers. A theme with an immense history: from the wall paintings of the Minoan Crete period and Santorini and those of Hellenistic and Roman antiquity, to the divinely emblematic “Spring” of Boticelli and the flower paintings of the Dutch tradition of the 17th century with their exhaustive rendered precision and unrivaled poetic qualities, up to the fluidly vibrant colorful explosions of the Impressionists; and the soulful “Sunflower” still-lifes of Van Gogh, the symbolic attributes in the flowers of Redon and the pantheistic spirit in the poppies of Nolde, to the unerring optimism found in the bouquets of Chagall.
Flowers. Youthful allegories, symbols of life and beauty, but also of vanity and conceit. Atmospheric reflections of nature, lit with joy, freshness and youthful charm. Catalysts for pure painting, both, realistic and abstract. Delicate impressions of spiritual expression and conduct. Poetic manifestations of feeling. Subjective impressions, engraved in an incessant lineage, frozen in time. A transport of contemporary art framing a series of concerns pronouncing a wider tapestry of human life; in all its implications.
Flowers. A theme of immense presence in the Greek art of the 19th and 20th century. Gizis, Iakovides, Pantazis, Hatjis, Vicatos, Geralis, Tsarouchis, Tsigos, Mitsea- Malamou, Tetsis, Karas, are just a few of a previous generation of artists who created exceptional compositions using flowers.
Flowers. A theme which for the greater majority is regarded and rejected as decorative, exhausted, and belonging to the past. To paint flowers today, may be considered, in the better sense of the word, anachronistic. The exhibition “Flowers… and other causes” provides none the less, a good reason, to revisit once again an “old age” theme with renewed interest, presenting the works of contemporary Greek artists who offer to the occasion their personal views and aesthetic propositions. Evidently, flowers will always be us and present in the hearts and art of all people.
Yiannis Bolis/Art Historian
