Theokriteio romance 1951

Alekos Kontopoulos summons a scene of classical romance with muted tones and soft, chalky textures. I can almost feel the artist, Alekos Kontopoulos, building up the image with layers of pastel, coaxing the figures from the paper. I wonder what Kontopoulos was thinking of while making this? Maybe he wanted to merge a traditional romance with a modern feeling. It reminds me of those late 19th century history paintings, but there's something so subtly odd about the picture that makes it modern. There's a kind of longing in the way the woman looks at the musician that makes the painting feel timeless. Painting is a way of opening up questions, not closing them down. Artists are always borrowing, stealing, and riffing on the past, remixing what came before into something new.