Diamantis Diamandopoulos

Allegory of Riches is part of a series entitled 'Stories of Monsters' (Teratologia), created between 1949 and 1978 and one of the most controversial components of Diamandopoulos' oeuvre. The largely symbolic content of this series marked the artist's attempt to link the harsh reality that surrounded him with his inner state of mind, illustrated by a grotesque king figure that represents the political tyrants and social suppressors of his time. Allegory of Riches also depicts a small, monstrous figure which holds a paintbrush in one hand and a sack of coins in the other. As well as criticising the ideological oppressors Diamandopoulos experienced in living through a dictatorship from 1967-1974, the subject represents the artist's opposition to the commercialisation of art.

Diamandopoulos was an integral member of the Thirties Generation, a term coined for those artists who lived and worked in Greece between the two World Wars. This group of artists was preoccupied both with the assimilation of diverse artistic currents, and the formulation of an independent Greek cultural identity. In later works such as Allegory of Riches, Diamandopoulos was expressing his intense dissatisfaction with the socio-political situation of Greece, as well as exorcising his own ideological and artistic demons.

Diamandopoulos created this series in isolation. Impoverished for most of his life, he worked in a variety of different occupations in order to survive, but never stopped painting. His artistic conflict with the artist Tsarouchis had a highly destructive effect on his outlook, as he felt betrayed by the artistic status quo. As a consequence, he withdrew himself from the world, exhibiting and the commercialisation of his own art. His self-imposed withdrawal lasted almost twenty-five years, during which he created a large body of works (including part of the 'Stories of Monsters' series) that he then exhibited in 1975 at a cultural centre called The Hour, and which was received with phenomenal acclaim by the Greek press and the social and artistic intelligentsia in Greece. This led to a triumphal retrospective of Diamandopoulos' work at the National Gallery in Athens, in which the present work featured.