Eros and Centaur
Artist
Nikolaos Gyzis
(1842 - 1901 )
Date1896-8
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions44.5 x 36.5 cm
Collection No259
Description"Eros
and Centaur"
reproduces the scene of the robust Centaur —familiar to symbolist painters—,
being teased by Eros. In an abstract, almost undefined landscape, the Centaur
seems to have totally surrendered, his animal and human nature alike. In a
demonstration of the artist’s mastery, the work evokes the calm that follows
intense action. Now in his mature period, Gyzis takes more freedom in the
treatment of volumes and gives precedence to colour over a closed-end drawing,
expressing the poetical atmosphere of the scene with even greater ease.