Kostas Papanicolaou’s “gaze” looks out from the Poros Archaeological Museum

This summer there’s added incentive to visit the Poros Archaeological Museum: an exhibition of works by acclaimed Greek artist Kostas Papanicolaou arranged among the archaeological finds.

“So much I gazed…” is a series of seven female figures painted by Papanicolaou, who was inspired by the title and lines of a poem by Constantine Cavafy. The full-body paintings offer the artist’s interpretation of the opening stanza “So much I gazed on beauty/that my vision is replete with it”, offering his personal visualisation of Cavafy’s description of the “Contours of the body. Red lips. Voluptuous limbs.” Arranged among exhibits from the museum’s permanent collection, the paintings are exhibits as well as a representation of  museum’s visitors.

The venue was cleverly chosen as a close look at the female figures among the archaeological exhibits invites comparison to Cavafy’s line: “Hair as if taken from Greek statues”.

Papanicolaou was born in Preveza and studied painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts as well as under Yannis Moralis and Dimitris Mytaras. This is the second showing of his work on Poros, following a 2011 exhibit at the Citronne Gallery.

“So much I gazed…” will be at the Poros Archaeological Museum through September 20 and is one more reason to visit this little gem of a museum.

The art exhibition was arranged by the Citronne Gallery in cooperation with the Ephorate of Antiquities of Western Attica, Piraeus, and Islands as part of the Culture Ministry’s events commemorating International Museum Day.

Diane Shugart