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Cycladic Art Museum |
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The culmination of forty
years of effort and avid collecting went in to the unique selection of
Cycladic and Ancient Greek art courtesy of Mr and Mrs Yiannis Goulandris,
who had spent considerable time and funds in assembling one of the
finest such collections in the world in the Museum of Cycladic and
Ancient Greek Art.
The Cycladic culture spanned a glorious heyday of about a thousand years
from 3200 to 2000 BC the third millennium BC when the Cycladic
islands were the home of something altogether original and
distinctive and new.
The simple lines and expressions
of the artefacts and figurines, sculptures and vases are easy to
interpret. Credit for the collection should also go to Lambros Eftaxias,
founder of the Museum of the City of Athens,
whose donation contained fine bronzes from the Classical and Hellenistic
periods. Early Cycladic pottery is distinguished by its coarse clay and poor firing, although a gradual improvement of technique is noticeable during this period. The shapes are simple, most objects come of grave sites from the early Cycladic period. Cycladic sculptures are distinct from their white, almost iridescent marble, and simple, almost modern appearance. Simplistic lines telling very vividly the story behind the figure, whether sitting or standing. The Cycladic Art Museum is a
light and airy building and connects through an atrium corridor to the
equally delightful New Wing housed in one of the best examples of
neo-classic buildings in the city.
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