The life and death of Theophilos, the major folk painter of modern Greek art.

In a now-liberated and ever-changing Greece--many decades after the commencement of the revolution against the oppressive Ottoman Empire on March 25, 1821--an entire nation is still struggling to find its feet. Amid a land in search of a new identity, the sensitive, unconventional, and genuine folk painter from the island of Lesbos, Theophilos Kefalas, or Theophilos Chatzimichail, or simply, Theophilos, decides to proudly wear the traditional Greek fustanella--a pleated, shirt-like garment--attuned to a mythical world of legendary heroes like the brave Klephts and Alexander the Great. Mocked for his beliefs, Theophilos continues to express himself through the natural colours and the bold strokes of his unique paintings and murals, working for peanuts, or food, until his discovery by the distinguished art critic and publisher, Stratis Eleftheriades, who was known by his pen-name, Tériade. Theophilos died in March 1934.—Nick Riganas