Nicholas Gysis

By the 1880s, Gysis was moving away from genre scenes and started to explore new figural themes. Allegorical Figures is an important example of Gysis' mature style showing the profound influence that Symbolism had on his late work. Symbolism spread through Europe during the second half of the nineteeth century. This movement inspired some of Gysis' most powerful works. On his artistic achievements Parthenis commented: "During the first stage of his work he was a distinguished painter, during the second a genuine artist .... As an artist he always swept me off my feet and the poetry of his works always made me seek them out, while as a painter I simply liked him." (quoted in Marina Lambraki-Plaka, ed., Four Centuries of Greek Painting, Athens, 2000, p. 104).