Δρόμος / Drómos (‘road’)
a landscape fantasy
oil on canvas (linen)
90 × 120 cm
December 1979
Is it because of the Greeks, their century-long history and its significance, or their friendly hospitality, or their music and their food? All true but . . . it certainly also includes the landscapes that, unmatched in beauty, are an important attraction for me!
Reminiscentie:
- Ο Μύθος ‘The Story’ (I’ll tell you a story) (Manos Hadjidakis / Nana Mouskouri)
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Suddenly a herd appears on the road, accompanied by this lonely man, hours away from the inhabited world, alone with his dog and the goats, their smell mixed with the scent of herbs on the slopes. Sometimes I like to imagine I’m him, obviously as an escape from daily life’s pressure . . .
The sun, still rising, drives the morning mist away, and will soon start to scorch the slopes and the plains. The road winds along a mountain flank, following the course of a small river deep down below.
An antique theatre – its location seemingly arbitrary – is overgrown by an olive grove, partly excavated. A medieval castle (Kastro) from the time of the Crusaders is scarcely visible, as if insignificant; yet it’s always strategically located on a hilltop overlooking a bay, an inlet of the sea, which is never far away in Greece.
The town on the horizon, hardly visible from our viewpoint, will have it all tonight:
Cafés and tavernas and their canopy-covered terraces. The smell of souvlakia, snatches of music from the ‘ringing-sparkling bouzouki’. Elegant women and girls strolling in the evening coolness, impossible not to be seen . . . HELLAS.
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