THOMOPOULOS, Epaminondas (1878-1974) House in the Pindes Oil on canvas Signed in Greek on the lower right: A. Thomopoulos Inscription on the back of the canvas: « Prof. Epaminondas Themopoulos Academicien Kelenus 3 Athenes (Greece) » Source : Benezit, vol. 8, p. 220 71x91.5cm - 28 x 36’ Bon in Greece in 1878, Epaminondas Thomopoulos left his native country early. He went to Italy, where he studied drawing and painting along with a renowned Neapolitan painter: Morelli Domenico. Despite the talent of his master, he was strongly marked by another artist, Giovanni Segantini, the eulogist of Italo-Swiss Mountains and the enlightened observer of rural scenes, who instilled into him the art of vibrating colors. Epaminondas owed the keys of his success to the latter: firstly, his taste for mountain pastures noticeable in his depictions of Pindes Mountains to which he devoted a book published in 1930 (« A travers les montagnes et les vallées de Grèce »); secondly, his unusual “tiny waves”, relics from Impressionism. Two characteristic features that are recognizable in our painting. A traditional house lost in Greek mountains before which a donkey and sheep are grazing quietly. The human figure, absent from this mute landscape, is suggested by the harnessed donkey seeming to be ready to take the road. Beyond a genre scene painting, Thomopoulos depicts an instant of life, probably a nap, while rays of sunlight are heating and dismantling the structure of the organic matter becoming vibrating “waves”. Epaminondas was appreciated by his contemporaries. Indeed, he was awarded a honourable mention at the Exposition Universelle in 1900 and was appointed the director of the Athenes’ Academy. Many of his works are exhibited at the National Gallery of Patras. 71x91,5cm - 28x36’’