• MARLENE DUMAS, Cycladic Blues, 2020

    MARLENE DUMAS

    Cycladic Blues, 2020
    Oil on canvas
    125 x 105 cm
    49 1/4 x 41 3/8 in

  • The ancient Cycladic culture flourished in the islands of the Aegean from c. 3300 to 1100 BCE. Their art is characterized by marble figurines, most commonly a single full-length female figure with arms folded across the front. Apart from a sharply-defined nose, the faces are a smooth blank. The enigmatic antiquities speak to us in the same timeless language as Dumas' contemporary works. 


    This painting echoes the ancient sculptures, imparting just enough information to describe a human face.

  • 'These works [at the Musuem of Cycladic Art in Athens] have a timeless quality, as if freed from our human...

    Figurine 

    Early Cycladic II period (2700–2400/2300 BC)

    Marble, 47.2 cm

    Image courtesy of the Musuem of Cycladic Art

    "These works [at the Musuem of Cycladic Art in Athens] have a timeless quality, as if freed from our human prejudices. Art not only has to survive the process of material aging through natural time and the physical destruction of wars, but also its associations with those who admire and use it." – Marlene Dumas

     

     

  • Installation view, Marlene Dumas: Cycladic Blues, Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens, 2025. Photo: Paris Tavitian © Museum of Cycladic Art, 2025.