Editing Greece (section)

=== Visual arts ===
{{See also|Greek art|Byzantine art|Modern Greek art}}
[[File:Detail of the Charioteer, Delphi (4691931414).jpg|thumb|Close-up of the ''Charioteer of [[Delphi]]'', a celebrated statue from the 5th century BC]]

Artistic production in Greece began in the prehistoric pre-Greek [[Cycladic civilization|Cycladic]] and the [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]] civilisations, both of which were influenced by local traditions and the [[art of ancient Egypt]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.digital.library.upenn.edu/women/edwards/pharaohs/pharaohs-5.html|title=Egypt the Birthplace of Greek Decorative Art|website=digital.library.upenn.edu|access-date=10 August 2017|archive-date=15 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180915055454/http://www.digital.library.upenn.edu/women/edwards/pharaohs/pharaohs-5.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

There were interconnected traditions of painting in ancient Greece. Due to technical differences, they underwent differentiated developments. Not all painting techniques are equally well represented in the [[Archaeology|archaeological]] record. The most respected form of art, according to [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]] or [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], were individual, mobile paintings on wooden boards, described as [[panel painting]]s. Wall painting in Greece goes back at least to the [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]] and [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean]] civilisations, with the lavish fresco decoration of sites like [[Knossos]], [[Tiryns]], and [[Mycenae]].

[[Ancient Greek sculpture]] was composed almost entirely of workable and durable materials, [[marble]] or [[bronze]], bronze becoming the favoured medium for major works by the early 5th century, while [[chryselephantine]] sculptures, made largely of [[gold]] and [[ivory]] and used for temple [[cult image]]s and luxury works, were much rarer. It has been established that ancient Greek sculptures were painted<ref name=Gurewitsch>{{cite journal|last=Gurewitsch |first= Matthew |date=July 2008 |title= True Colors |journal= Smithsonian |pages= 66–71 |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/true-colors.html}}</ref> with a variety of colours, a feature known as [[polychromy]].<ref>{{cite AV media |last=Harris |first=Cyril M. |title=Illustrated Dictionary of Historic Architecture |publisher=[[Dover Publications]] |location=New York |year=1977 |edition=1983}}</ref>

Art production continued during the Byzantine era. The most salient feature of this new aesthetic was its "abstract", or anti-naturalistic character. Classical art was marked by attempts to create representations that mimicked reality, Byzantine art favoured a more symbolic approach. Byzantine painting concentrated mainly on [[icon]]s and [[hagiography|hagiographies]]. The [[Macedonian art (Byzantine)]] was the artistic expression of [[Macedonian Renaissance]], a label used to describe the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire (867–1056), which scholars have seen as a time of increased interest in classical scholarship and the assimilation of classical motifs into [[Christian art]]work.

Post Byzantine art schools include the [[Cretan School]] and [[Heptanese School (painting)|Heptanese School]]. The first artistic movement in the [[Greek Kingdom]] can be considered the [[Greek academic art of the 19th century]] (''Munich School''). Modern Greek painters include [[Nikolaos Gyzis]], [[Georgios Jakobides]], [[Theodoros Vryzakis]], [[Nikiforos Lytras]], [[Konstantinos Volanakis]], [[Nikos Engonopoulos]] and [[Yannis Tsarouchis]], while notable sculptors are [[Pavlos Prosalentis]], [[Ioannis Kossos]], [[Leonidas Drosis]], [[Georgios Bonanos]], and [[Yannoulis Chalepas]].