Before going on to study in London, Costas Economou received his first lessons in painting at the Morphou Teachers’ College from Adamantios Diamantis, who influenced him with regard both to his subject matter and his style. Later, his studies and his friendship with Christoforos Savva led him to explore other artistic vocabularies, such as Expressionism, Fauvism and Cubism.

In this early work, Economou depicted a scene from farming life: the carob harvest, one of the most important seasonal farm jobs, which gave work to men as well as women. The painting was made in 1955, at a time when carob exports offered a significant income to Cyprus. Economou conveyed the scene with realistic faithfulness, yet at the same time with divergences that serve the aesthetic negotiation of the subject. He simplified, schematised and enriched his colours with distinction, for the sake of pictorial values. The result is a happy composition featuring the rhythmic interchange between cool and warm colours, which transform a laborious task into a colourful celebration of life. The landscape and scenes from people’s daily lives, filtered through his personal vision, remain to this day at the heart of Economou’s subject matter.