Funerary Composition III 1963

Yiannis Moralis made Funerary Composition III, with what looks like oil on canvas, creating a scene with a limited palette of ochre, brown, and white. It's a painting that feels both classical and very modern. Look at the surface—the paint is laid down in these flat, blocky shapes, especially in the background. The bodies, too, are formed through a process of painterly construction. It's not about illusionism, but about the physicality of paint. The rough edges and visible brushstrokes feel immediate, like you're seeing the painting being made in real-time. Notice the way Moralis handles the drapery, these sweeping whites feel almost sculptural, giving the whole composition movement and tension. There’s something about the stillness of the figures combined with the active brushwork that reminds me of Phillip Guston, but with a Greek twist. The way Moralis balances abstraction and figuration here, I think, suggests that art is always in conversation with the past, finding new ways to see and feel the world.