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000021 Yannis Mitarakis, In the Tavern, 1950, oil on canvas, 68 × 75.5 cm

In November 1951, after an extended stay in France (1950–51) and several trips to Alexandria to settle family financial matters, Mitarakis held a major solo exhibition at the ‟Parnassos” Hall (in Athens), presenting fifty oil paintings. Among them was the present painting, titled Popular Types (cat. no. 1), one of the best-known works of the exhibition, as it was also reproduced in printed media of the time. The scene is inspired by the everyday life of the working-classes. On the right, a young man is depicted with his back turned to the viewer, playing a lute. Across from him, resting his hand on a small green table, another man listens dreamily to the music and song. Apart from a schematic rendering of the second man’s chair, no other detail of the interior space is provided. This way, the viewer’s attention is directed entirely toward the two figures, who are portrayed with an expressionist sensibility: Mitarakis distorts their faces and proportions (the musician’s hand and foot are noticeably out of scale), while forming the bodies and volumes using only rich, textured colour. In this severe, expressionist composition, the artist leaves out all unnecessary detail as he seeks to capture the emotional connection of ordinary people to traditional music.