Dionysus

Original oil painting on canvas covered board

60 x 50cm

Greek god Dionysus has been sanitised as the jovial god of wine and good times, but the more ancient Dionysus had a distinctly darker side. He was the god of wine, but also the god of ecstasy, madness, phantoms and hallucination.

This painting was inspired by stories of this older, darker Dionysus, together with ancient Greek artefacts from the Benaki Museum, attributes (symbols) associated with Dionysus, and this excerpt from Ovid, Metamorphoses Book 4:


"[Dionysus makes phantoms appear] the crash of unseen drums clamoured, and fifes and jingling brass resounded, and the air was sweet with scents or myrrh and saffron, and--beyond belief!--the weaving all turned green, the hanging cloth grew leaves of ivy, part became a vine, what had been threads formed tendrils, form the warp broad leaves unfurled, bunches of grapes were seen, matching the purple with their coloured sheen. And now the day was spent, the hour stole on when one would doubt if it were light or dark, some lingering light at night's vague borderlands. Suddenly the whole house began to shake, the lamps flared up, and all the rooms were bright with flashing crimson fires, and phantom forms of savage beasts of prey howled all around."

Artist’s Private Collection