Eastern Mediterranean

Art from Greece, Cyprus, Turkey and the Balkans, from classical temples and Byzantine domes to Ottoman design and modern art.

No works indexed yet · 10 related artists

No open-access works for Eastern Mediterranean are in the index yet. They will appear here as more collections are indexed.

About

Few regions have shaped Western art so deeply. The Parthenon in Athens, designed by Iktinos and Kallikrates in the 430s BC, set a lasting standard of proportion, and Praxiteles gave marble a soft, relaxed grace in the 4th century BC. In Constantinople, Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus raised Hagia Sophia (537) under a dome that seemed to float, and Byzantine mosaics and icons spread its visual language through the Balkans.

Ottoman rule added new forms: the architect Mimar Sinan's mosques, and Iznik tiles glazed in cobalt, turquoise and tomato red. Modern artists from the region often worked between home and abroad. Takis made magnetic, kinetic sculpture in Paris, Theodoros Stamos joined the New York Abstract Expressionists, Erol Akyavaş drew on Islamic manuscript forms in Istanbul, and the Belgrade-born Marina Abramović tested the limits of the body in performances such as Rhythm 0 (1974).