Μετέωρα

000178 Yannis Mitarakis, Meteora, 1962, oil on canvas, 99.5 × 133 cm

Yiannis Mitarakis passed away on February 23, 1963. This means that the present painting—an abstract view of Meteora—is one of his last works. It is even possible that it was included in his solo exhibition at the Athens Technological Institute, featuring landscapes of Santorini and Meteora, which opened just days earlier, on February 20, 1963. The painting depicts the mountainous rock formations of Meteora in a highly schematic manner—monumental stone masses pictured abstractly. Black is used structurally, defining the key points of the composition and outlining the contours and vertical development of the rocks. Alongside black, brown and gray tones are combined with sparse red and blue highlights, creating a somewhat eerie, distinctly anti-realist image that bears little resemblance to visual reality. The artist’s aim was not to mimic nature, but to use it as a point of departure in order to offer a free, painterly transformation—one that focused more on the spirit of the rocky land than on its faithful depiction.