The Rite of Spring

Mediums: oil, canvas.
Location: The Cangelaris Collection (Greece).

Engonopoulos was a famous writer and carefully studied national traditions. The painting depicts a fragment of the spring shepherd’s rite – cult actions were always collective. Usually, the focus of the event itself was the cult of the Faun. The author presented the details necessary for him, the god of vegetation and animals. The fabulousness of the action is emphasized by the unusual purple colour of the earth, along which three figures walk, as well as by the great outfit of the central character. The low horizon allows the heroes of the procession to stand out sculpturally against the cloudless sky.