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Art and its Spirits, 1876
Oil on canvas, 67 x 55 cm
Inv. Number
Π.550
On view
Main Building
One of Gyzis’ earliest paintings of a symbolic nature. The main figure in “Art and its Spirits” is that of a beautiful winged girl, an angel playing the violin. The reason is perhaps that Gyzis considered music as a superior form of art. The other arts are embodied by the little Erotes (putti), surrounding her like a swarm of bees, playing with the tools of various arts. The purple skirt of the main figure, pouring down like a river, dominates the composition. Upon closer look, the composition appears to be organized on the diagonal defined by the movement of the little angels and two arches, one on the top right corner and the other on the bottom of the composition. Part of the Baroque formal vocabulary, the diagonal arrangement adds great dynamism to the composition. Warm brown-red tones prevail along with black and white colours.