1. National Art Gallery.
The best way to get acquainted with Greek Art, and see how it evolved from the post-Byzantine times to the present day, is to pay a visit to the National Art Gallery.
When it was first established, the art gallery had a collection of only 117 paintings, but grew over the years thanks to generous private donations. Presently, the collection spans 20,000 pieces of art by Greek and European artists, 1,000 of which are part of The Gallery’s permanent display.
The collection is organized chronologically, and include paintings, sculptures, engravings, drawings and many other pieces.
The main reason for visiting The National Art Gallery is to observe the evolution of modern Greece through the works of its most prominent artists, but visitors will also have the opportunity to admire pieces by Bruegel, Caravaggio, Delacroix, El Greco and Picasso.
From the colourful works from the post-Byzantine years to key moments and personalities of the 1821 revolution against the Ottomans, leading to the establishment of the modern Greek state, Greece’s history is depicted in portraits, still lifes, landscapes and seascapes with historical and mythological motifs, as well as personal themes of the artists.
The sleek glass-clad site with floor to ceiling windows offers urban views from various angles, but most importantly the natural light penetrates the space, giving the impression that the paintings are almost luminous.
Our suggested highlights:
- The Exodus from Missolonghi by Theodoros Vryzakis 1853. Vryzakis introduced the Munich School to Greece, and was systematically involved with depictions of scenes from the Greek War of Independence as he was personally affected (when his father was hanged by the Turks). This painting shows the residents fleeing Missolonghi while under attack by the Turks, who are seeking revenge for losing control of the city months earlier. Turkish forces slaughtered the Greek freedom fighters who bravely fought against all odds. Meanwhile, the enemy forces had invaded the city and killed everyone who was left behind, while women and children were sold as slaves.
- Portrait of Mrs Serpieri by Nikeforos Lytras 1896. Lytras was one of the leading representatives of the School of Munich and is considered to be the father of Modern Greek painting, as well as a favorite of King Otto. This painting immortalizes the wife of a prominent industrialist. It was an affirmation of the affluent new society emerging in Greece, who all wanted their portraits painted.
- On the terrace (or Athenian Evening) by Iakovos Rizos 1897. Rizos,who studied in Paris, clearly expresses the spirit of the Belle Époque (the thriving cultural and artistic climate in Paris and all of France in the period before WWI). The painting received the silver medal at the 1900 Paris World Fair. This amazing painting, set on the terrace of a neoclassical house in Plaka, expresses the mood of euphoria and wellbeing characteristic of the wealthy bourgeois in the late 19th century.
- Composition by Yiannis Gaitis 1975. Gaitis is one of the most characteristic and original representatives of Pop Art in Greece. He was also recognized in France, where he lived for many years. Gaitis created an archetypal stylized figure that represented a concentration of the characteristics of male figures, to depict mass consumer society, while dressed in the colors of the Greek flag.
- The Straw Hat by Nikos Lyras 1925. Nikos Lyras influenced the development of Greek painting both through his teaching at the School of Fine Arts and his pioneering art work. This highly immersive painting is an excellent example of early Greek Modernism. We see a Cycladic Island landscape in a sunny summer day.
https://www.nationalgallery.gr/ 50 Vassileos Konstantinou Ave, Pangrati / Metro station: Evangelismos. Or 20min walk from Syntagma Square.
2. National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST)
Paradise for art lovers is housed in one of Athens’ most iconic buildings – a fully refurbished former brewery from the ‘50s (in its original form, post-war industrial architecture). The large, open-plan space in Koukaki is as interesting architecturally as it is for the works of art exhibited inside.
The Museum’s constantly growing collection is formed around a very important nucleus of works by both Greek and international artists. The permanent collection of 90 selected works from international and modern Greek artists on the 2nd and 3rd floor is the centerpiece attraction, but the frequent temporary exhibits provide a reason to visit again and again.
There are over 1400 works in the collection to date. The future acquisition policy will maintain the core socio-political character of the collection, which is to offer multiple perspectives across the genealogies of the country’s political and cultural life.
The constant aim of the museum is the promotion of education via the arts, and raising public awareness regarding contemporary culture, in combination with the development of scientific research and a specialization in the museology, history and theory of contemporary art. One of its founding goals is to promote innovative and experimental artistic movements, and the production of audiovisual works via new media. Programming is political and nuanced, with Greek artists commenting on social issues through a range of media, from photography to sculpture as well as audio visual installations.
One can say that the National Museum of Contemporary Art is a museum of “concepts” rather than paintings.https://www.emst.gr/en/ Kallirrois Ave & Amvr. Frantzi St, Koukaki, Metro: Syggrou Fix.
3) Goulandris Museum of Modern Art (Basil & Elise Goulandris Foundation)
A gem of a museum located just a few blocks from the Panathenaic Stadium and the National Gardens of Athens, the Goulandris Museum of Modern Art is housed in a mid-war building owned by the founders.
The Museum hosts an impressive private collection, assembled during the second half of the 20th century, with the express purpose of making the art accessible to the public, per the wishes of its founders. Like every private collection, the criteria for selecting the works were purely subjective, and the choices by Basil & Elise Goulandris were driven by personal preferences and their own aesthetic codes. It’s incredible to think that this amazing collection of Impressionist, Modernist and post-war art from mainly 19th and 20th-century masters such as Picasso, Monet, Van Gogh, Cezanne, El Greco, Giacometti, Gaugin, Pollock and Degas was once the private collection of an Athenian couple.
Equally impressive is the Greek section of the museum, which features works by renowned artists from the 20th and 21st century such as Tsarouchis, Ghika, Moralis, Takis, Kounelis, Tobros, Tsoclis, and Fassianos.
The museum’s restaurant/ café is in a cozy and discreet urban garden, that alone is worth a visit. It offers snacks, breakfast, brunch and a Mediterranean lunch, with a small but discerning wine list. The café provides a good opportunity to sit and contemplate the astonishing masterpieces you have just witnessed.
Don’t Miss:
1) Little Dancer Aged Fourteen by Edgar Degas Circa 1878-1881. Bronze with a brown patina, tulle skirt and satin ribbon on a wooden base. At the 6th impressionist exhibition in the spring of 1881, Edgar Degas presented the only sculpture that he would ever exhibit in public. The sculpture was not so warmly received when she first appeared. The work was exhibited in a glass display case for only two weeks and received fierce criticism for the innovative combination of materials, the controversial theme of the dancer as a girl with loose morals, and the choice of that particular girl, who was neither a woman nor a child, neither beautiful nor graceless. The work’s astonishing realism as well as its revolutionary nature, was also acknowledged. In the context of the evolution of sculpture, the Little Dancer is a groundbreaking work of art. The liberating idea that any medium or technique necessary to convey the desired effect is fair game, may be traced back to this sculpture.
2) Women Olive Picking by Vincent Van Gogh 1889. At the end of 1889, Van Gogh painted three versions of this picture. Woman Olive Picking stands out, as it was one of only three that he completed during his time at a psychiatric clinic in southern France. It wasn’t uncommon for Van Gogh to create multiple versions of paintings, as if he was pleased with a painting, he often made one or more copies. One of these paintings tended to be for his brother Theo to sell. He sometimes also painted a version to give away, e.g., to his mother and sister. Creating multiple versions meant that he could keep the original.
3) La Santa Faz (The Holy Face) by El Greco 1586–1595. Born on the island of Crete, Domenikos Theotokopoulos acquired the name El Greco—the Greek—in Italy and Spain. After working as an icon painter in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, he left the Greek Island of Crete in 1568 to study western-style painting in Venice. Failing to win major commissions in Italy, El Greco moved on to Spain. By 1577 he was in Toledo, where he remained for the rest of his life and produced his most important works. Because of the obscurity in his style, and the fact that he was considered a painter of the spirit, he became one of the most influential painters, setting the groundwork for many to follow, and for many other art forms that followed. The Holy Face by El Greco summarises his entire aesthetic journey, in the sense that it borrows as much from Byzantine art – his first education in Crete – as from Western painting
4) Sailor sitting at the table by Yiannis Tsarouchis 1980. Giannis Tsarouchis is one of the most recognized Greek artists, and his work holds a significant place in the history of Modern Greek art. He began painting at early age, and earned his living as a set and costume designer for the theatre. One of the most important representatives of the “Thirties Generation”, Tsarouchis embodied in his work the ideal of “Greekness”. His primary interest is focused on the human figure, with isolated portraits as scenes with sailors and soldiers, a distinctive part of his work.
5Number 13 by Jackson Pollock, 1950: Jackson Pollock was a pivotal member of the New York avant-garde after the 2nd World War. His notoriety stemmed from his novel manner of applying paint. Inspired by Navajo sand painting, Pollock abandoned the tradition of easel painting, which he considered “a dying form,” choosing instead to work on unstretched canvas laid on the ground onto which he would drip, fling, and scratch paint using dried brushes, sticks, and pigment hurled directly from the can. Number 13 was one of a series of large, horizontal murals that Pollock made in the late 1940s. Its looping skeins of paint poured onto the henna-brown stained canvas possess an airy spatiality that distinguishes the painting from some of Pollock’s other, more densely-painted works.
https://goulandris.gr/en/ 13 Eratosthenous str. Pagrati , Metro: Evangelismos (15min walk), Syntagma (15min walk through the National Gardens)
