Did Greece Choose Me?

One secret I have to tell myself (and now to you) is that some of my paintings look surprisingly similar to ancient Greek paintings and art. Is it just coincidence that I chose Greece as my wedding destination?

A picture I took at the Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens, Greece.

The realization came like a small seed. A few week before my flight to Athens, I wandered into a used bookstore in Venice. While walking through the aisles, a book titled Myth And Legend In Early Greek Art (by Karl Schefold) caught my eye. Without much thought, I picked it up and bought it. Later, I wondered—do I long for Greece because of who I am, or did the longing itself find me? Either way, it feels meant to be.

Once I noticed the resemblance, I became more conscious of my own sketches and paintings, trying not to lean too much into Greek forms. It’s funny, because before this realization I never thought about it at all. As a new painter, I often wrestle with the balance between inspiration and originality—how to digest what moves me without simply copying, how to let it pass through me and come out in my own voice. I never think of myself as someone dropped onto this earth a genius. Who I am as an artist is a mosaic of my own experiences and the larger human legacy we all inherit.

Later, while wandering through a bookstore in Athens, I found a book titled Pablo Picasso Paloma: The Joy of Life. A part of book showed how much Pablo Picasso adapted from Greek art. As I flipped through the pages, I could imagine him painting with Greek images still fresh in his mind—vase paintings, zoomorphic figures, fragments of mythology. Just days earlier, I had seen similar forms at the Museum of Cycladic Art! It reminded me that even the greats borrowed, translated, and transformed.

Maybe that’s what Greece gave me—not answers, but perspective. A reminder that art is never born in isolation. If my paintings look a little too Greek, maybe that’s not a mistake. Maybe it’s me, on my own path, echoing something that’s been waiting all along. And honestly? I don’t mind.