Antibes 1961

Abidin Dino, a Turkish artist, painted this evocative, abstract work, Antibes, with an unknown medium, prompting many questions about the culture and period it emerged from. The painting presents a stark visual contrast: a blinding vertical white stripe amidst murky browns. Its title references a town in France on the Mediterranean coast. Dino was a leftist intellectual who faced political persecution in Turkey and later lived in exile in Paris. This knowledge invites us to consider the painting through the lens of exile and displacement. Is the white stripe a symbol of hope or a path? What do the murky browns represent? A deeper understanding of Dino’s life and the socio-political context of mid-20th century Turkey and France is required. Through historical sources we begin to appreciate how his personal experiences informed his artistic choices and how his art might speak to broader themes of identity, freedom, and cultural belonging.