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000012 Yannis Mitarakis, Fishing boats on the Deck, 1943, oil on canvas, 58 × 68 cm

Yiannis Mitarakis and his wife, Fani, spent the period of the German Occupation (1941–44) on the island of Chios. During that time, he created the painting Boats at the Dock, also known as Calm. The scene depicts a view of the city’s harbour, with emphasis on the small sailboats. In the foreground, depicted in an unusual perspective, a man in a boat casts an anchor. Behind him, the dock can be seen, where four small boats are moored. On the left, three men are loading nets as they prepare to go fishing. In the background, the soft form of the Oinousses islands is painted in blue-green and grey tones, while the ashen sky suggests the scene is set at dawn.

Stylistically, the work belongs to the late 1930s, when Mitarakis painted landscapes and everyday scenes—though approached with an abstract and simplified drawing, using restrained colours in broad zones. This aesthetic had its roots in works from the early 1930s (such as Well in Megara and Festival at Pyrgi), but it more closely aligned with the visual style developed in his Mykonos series, with its clean surfaces and subdued colour palette. Boats at the Dock should also be viewed in relation to Boats in the Shipyard, a 1948 work (000014). It seems that during the German Occupation, the artist sought to counterbalance the somber atmosphere by creating tranquil compositions inspired by the daily lives of fishermen and seafarers.