Kaisariani, c. 1915-1920
The early works of Εconomou bear a strong mark of his apprenticeship with Nikiphoros Lytras, at the School of Fine Arts in Athens. Within the framework of academic realism, he depicted scenes from everyday life, in which the genre painting element predominated, in harmonious compositions and in balanced warm colours. However, he soon turned towards landscape painting, introducing into his art a freer style and a brighter colour range, which put him within the 'open air' movement which was predominant in Greece in the early twentieth century. The many views from the environs of Athens which he produced are not only examples of this free painting, but sometimes also living testimonies of topographical depiction at the time when they were recorded.
Kaisariani must have been produced in the last decade of Ikonomou life. The topography gives very little help in recognising the area, which is identified only by the title of the work. The artist's interest is focused on the rendering of nature in a way characteristic of the open-air painters of Greece, with a deep opening of the perspective into the background, the tall trees in the foreground, and the light colour.
