The Pythia

Mediums: oil, tempera, canvas.
Location: The Center Georges Pompidou, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Paris (France).

Briefly about the painting:

Constantly using ancient myths for paintings, including ancient ones, the artist called for restoration of the lost civilization. Surrealists could love the figure of Pythia due to her prophetic powers, but Masson remained the only one who during his stay in the USA conceived a plot about the oracle woman, putting into it a sense of loss in the world that was modern for him. The work consists of three basic formal elements interconnected by deep red, sharply enhanced by the presence of black and yellow. A female figure with raised hands indicates the coming of prophetic visions. The canvas is enlivened by centrifugal movement, which rushes out of the frame and diverges in a space where the viewer no longer has access.