View Of The Temple Of Karnak, F. Anastasiadis, Circa 1930.

This view of the Hypostyle Hall of the Temple of Karnak, painted around 1930 by F. Anastasiadi, stands as a rare testimony to the way interwar art engaged with the great monuments of Antiquity. At a time when Egyptomania was reignited by the 1922 discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb, the artist chose to depict one of the universal symbols of world heritage. The work lies at the crossroads of the major movements of its time: while the European avant-gardes explored Cubism, Surrealism, and Constructivism, a parallel current celebrated travel, memory, and monumentality. Anastasiadi belongs to this latter vein, close to the late orientalist tradition and to the explorations of painters such as Jacques Majorelle or Paul Jouve, while affirming his own distinct sensibility.
The composition highlights the majestic balance of papyrus-shaped columns, illuminated by light filtering between the massive shafts and enhancing the sense of mystery. By excluding human figures, the artist underscores the permanence and universality of the monument, far removed from a picturesque or narrative approach. More than a simple archaeological record, this is a poetic interpretation that conveys both the spatial experience and the symbolic force of the site.
By virtue of its artistic quality and historical context, this work holds singular interest: it testifies to the role of painting in disseminating the pharaonic imagination at the very moment when the modern notion of world heritage was being forged. A unique testimony of both erudition and sensitivity, it retains today its full evocative power.

A catalogue entry is available on request.