Description
Artist/Maker: Kostas Kampouropoulos (1939-2018)
Object/Materials and Techniques: Oil on laminated wood
Date: Painted between 2007-2016
Dimensions: H. 72 cm. x W. 150 cm.
Art style: Romantic elements with surrealistic expressionistic structures/Abstract art
Curator’s note: One of the paintings from a series inspired by Richard Wagner’s epic tetralogy project operas ‘The Ring of the Nibelung‘, in the opera act of which the painter had once participated as a bass singer.
As an homage to German and Norse mythology, herein he depicts a detail from the prologue of the four music dramas ‘The Gold of the Rhine‘.
Being a great lover of lyric music and classical opera, the painter was generally inspired by strategies of musical composition. More specifically, in this painting, colour gradations and softly abstracted forms aspire to emulate musicality and provoke contemplation. Notable, however, is his characteristic style of gentle colour scheme and softly brushed contours, through which he succeeds in evoking deep emotion and sound eerie sense from this mythological scene.
[ The four works that form Richard Wagner’s cycle ‘The Ring of the Nibelung’ are:
- ‘The Gold of the Rhine‘
- ‘The Valkyrie‘
- ‘Siegfried’
- ‘Twilight of the Gods‘. ]
Current Location: Private collection
