Ancient Greek art developed over about a thousand years, and its central idea was humanity: the human body, shown ever more naturally, was the measure of beauty and the image of the gods. The Romans copied it, the Renaissance rediscovered it, Neoclassicism idealised it.
Periods
| Period | Dates | Features | Typical works |
|---|---|---|---|
| Geometric | c. 900-700 BC | Meanders, circles, stylised figures | Great funerary amphorae from the Dipylon, Athens |
| Orientalising | c. 700-600 BC | Animals and monsters inspired by the East | Corinthian pottery |
| Archaic | c. 700-480 BC | Stiff, frontal statues, the "Archaic smile" | Kouroi and korai, the Moschophoros |
| Severe | c. 480-450 BC | First bodies in natural movement | Charioteer of Delphi, Artemision Zeus, Riace bronzes |
| Classical | c. 450-323 BC | Ideal proportions, balance, calm | Parthenon, Doryphoros, Hermes of Praxiteles |
| Hellenistic | 323-31 BC | Movement, emotion, realism | Winged Victory of Samothrace, Laocoön, Venus de Milo |
Sculpture
In the Archaic period kouroi, naked youths, and korai, clothed maidens, stand stiffly with one foot forward and the mysterious Archaic smile. After the Persian Wars sculptors mastered movement: Myron's Discobolus catches the athlete just before the throw, Polykleitos' Doryphoros applies a "canon" of perfect proportions and contrapposto, the weight on one leg. Phidias directed work on the Parthenon and created the colossal gold-and-ivory statues of Athena Parthenos and of Zeus at Olympia. In the 4th century Praxiteles carved soft, sensual bodies such as the Aphrodite of Knidos, the first fully nude goddess; Lysippos was Alexander the Great's sculptor.
Many bronze originals were lost, melted down for metal; we know them from Roman marble copies. Surviving bronze originals often come from the sea, such as the Artemision Poseidon (or Zeus) in Athens and the Riace bronzes, found in 1972 off Calabria and now in Reggio Calabria.
Coloured statues
Greek statues and temples were not white: they were painted in bright colours, and eyes were often of coloured stone. The colour has almost vanished, but traces and modern reconstructions reveal a far more colourful world than the pure marble the Neoclassicists imagined.
Vase painting
Of great Greek painting, praised by ancient writers, almost nothing remains, except the frescoes of the Vergina tombs. What survives is an extraordinary output of painted vases:
- Black-figure (7th-6th century BC): black figures on the red clay, details incised. Master: Exekias.
- Red-figure (from about 530 BC): figures left in the clay colour against a black ground, allowing finer detail. Masters: Euphronios, the Berlin Painter.
- White-ground: funerary vases (lekythoi) with delicate drawings.
Vases show myths, wars, sport, banquets and daily life, and are a precious source for understanding the Greeks.
Architecture
The Greeks mostly built temples, homes of the gods, following precise rules of proportion, the three architectural orders: Doric, Ionic and Corinthian. The Parthenon is considered the peak of the Doric order. They also built theatres, stadiums, porticoes (stoa), gymnasia and sanctuaries.
Where to see Greek art
| Museum | Masterpieces |
|---|---|
| National Archaeological Museum, Athens | Mask of Agamemnon, Artemision Zeus, Artemision Jockey, Antikythera mechanism |
| Acropolis Museum, Athens | Korai, the Erechtheion Caryatids, the Parthenon frieze |
| Delphi Museum | Charioteer of Delphi, Sphinx of the Naxians |
| Olympia Museum | Hermes of Praxiteles, Nike of Paionios, sculptures of the Temple of Zeus |
| Heraklion Museum | Minoan art, Knossos frescoes |
| Outside Greece | British Museum (Parthenon marbles), Louvre (Winged Victory, Venus de Milo), Vatican Museums (Laocoön), Reggio Calabria (Riace bronzes) |
See also archaeology in Greece and Minoan civilisation.