Ευαγγελισμός

001040 Nikos Yialouris, Annunciation, 1987, pastel on cardboard, 70 × 100 cm

The figure of the Angel dominated Yialouris’s late artistic production. However, the theme had preoccupied him since the 1970s, and his primary source of inspiration was religious art. His engagement with folk tradition, the significance of the Byzantine mosaics of Nea Moni of Chios, his religiosity, and his dialogue with the past all contributed to this choice. The specific painting is dated to 1981 and constitutes a contemporary reinterpretation of the old theme of the Annunciation of the Virgin. The composition unfolds along a vertical axis. On the right stands the young Mary, with a chair behind her. On the floor lies the white dove—the Holy Spirit. Undoubtedly, the most striking figure in the scene is the Angel on the left. In one hand he holds a sword (by the blade, not the hilt), in the other, an orange rose; flames emerge from his mouth. The floor is depicted as a single terracotta-coloured strip, while the remaining space is painted in the transcendental gold of Byzantine iconography. Despite their references to Byzantine and particularly folk art, the figures are expressionistic, characterized by frontal axis, geometric stylization, and distortion.