Michalis Economou

Acquired from the artist by the grandfather of the present owner; thence by descent

There are no signs of retouching visible under ultraviolet light. Apart from surface dirt and some warping to the board on which the canvas has been laid, overall this work is in good original condition. Held in a decorative gold and white painted frame.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Executed circa 1925-1933, the present work is a superb example of Economou's poetic landscapes, their characteristic delicate sense of atmosphere conveyed through the use of a restrained palette of earthy tones, accentuated here by the vibrant blue of the sea and sky, and the red poppies dotted around the wheat fields.

Reminiscent of the harvest scenes of the French painter Léon Lhermitte, the present work reveals Economou's artistic training in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts from 1906 onwards. The twenty years during which he lived and worked in France, and was exposed to modern French painting, had a profound influence on his oeuvre. However, as Aphrodite Kouria has pointed out, 'Whatever artistic affinities Economou might have had with Western European artistic trends, the basic and essential characteristic of his art is his intensely personal style, the hallmark of a genuine artistic temperament which sought to transform the facts of the perceptible world into images of an inner truth.' (Aphrodite Kouria, 'Michalis Economou: an Individualistic Interpreter of Greek Landscapes', Zygos, Athens, 1983, p. 44).

In the present work, the blending of colours and contours lends the painting an ethereal quality. Within Economou's often almost monochromatic compositions, colour, as a vehicle to convey feelings and create atmosphere, took supremacy.