The Apotheosis of Athanasios Diakos 1933

Konstantinos Parthenis imagined ‘The Apotheosis of Athanasios Diakos’ with oil on canvas. What does it feel like when you give yourself over to an idea? I’m thinking about Parthenis’s touch and the way forms emerge out of each other, not fully formed, but hovering in a space between figuration and pure abstraction. He’s scraping and layering these muted blues, pinks, and creams, pushing and pulling the paint around until these ghostly figures appear. Look at the confident but tentative lines. See how they create a shallow, dreamlike space. There’s a quietness to this painting. It’s like Parthenis is trying to capture a fleeting moment, a vision that’s just out of reach. That hand raised in supplication is so evocative, as are the musicians at the top of the canvas. It's like he’s channeling the divine, or maybe just trying to make sense of the world through his own, very particular, painterly language. Painters are always building on what came before, riffing on each other’s ideas. Parthenis knew this, and he used it to make something totally his own.