Τοπίο με βίγλα

000854 Nikos Yialouris, Landscape with “vigla” (i.e., Watch Tower), 1991, tempera on paper, 62.5 × 50 cm

On the islands of the Aegean, vigles (plural) were a common sight. Perched along ridgelines, near the sea, or sometimes clinging to the edge of a cliff, they stood as sentinels against the looming threat of pirates. Today, they remain as silent witnesses of a more dangerous era—medieval structures and historic remnants, or simply, evocative ruins. In this composition, Yialouris depicts a landscape as seen from the sea, with the water occupying half the image. The viewer’s eye follows the blue-green sea until it meets the triangular, ashen-green mass of land. With just a few dark brown details, the landmass rises between sea and sky, beneath white and gray clouds. At the far right of the mountain, where it slopes into the sea, a small square mark is visible: this is the vigla, evoking the age of pirates. The work is not typical of Gialouris’s style. It follows a fluid, impressionistic approach, with emphasis on light, atmospheric perspective, and movement (of both sea and clouds)—but above all, on the handling of color, the expressive medium through which all these visual ideas are conveyed.