The Young Fisherman fresco is one of the best preserved frescoes found so far on the island of Thera. Buried for around 3,500 years under 200 feet of volcanic ash, it miraculously retained its full color. The absence of clothes and jewelry of any kind indicates that this youth had probably been net fishing while standing waist deep in the sea or possibly even spear fishing under water. It is unclear what the tie around his neck was for. Perhaps to string his fish after a successful day? At first, the blue head on the youth was thought to symbolize divinity, since Mediterranean gods often had blue hair and beards. The primary archaeologist of Thera, Spyros Marinatos, later concluded that the blue represented shaved stubble from which two locks of hair have been left to grow.

The naturalism of this subject is typical of Minoan art. The young man, turned sideways to proudly display his catch of mackerel, lifts them high off the ground, looking down slightly with the effort. The composition is as balanced as a scale, and self-framed with the colored borders at top and bottom.