The Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens is a real gem. Visit it and find out by yourself.
It presents artefacts of ancient Cypriot, Greek and Cycladic art, from a period which precedes the classical Greek art that most of us have studied at school. Many of the artefacts span over a period which corresponds to the bronze age, approximately from 3200 to 1100 BCE. This was for me the biggest astonishment.
The pieces displayed are older than the classical representations of Greek athletes and gods, but most look much more modern. Indeed, their shapes have been simplified to a degree that we could call abstraction. The marble “violin-shaped” figurines from 5000 years ago and the stone “plank” figures from 4000 years ago are perfect examples of extreme simplification of the human body.
No wonder that 20th-century artists like Brancusi, Modigliani and Giacometti, were so inspired by the art of the Central and Eastern Mediterranean of that era.
