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Dec
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EXHIBITION
Retrospective exhibition “Konstantinos Parthenis (1878–1967) – Painting an Ideal Greece”
From 06 July to 26 February 2023 · ATHENS
The National Gallery presents the exhibition “Konstantinos Parthenis (1878–1967) – Painting an Ideal Greece”, the first comprehensive retrospective exhibition dedicated to the oeuvre of one of the most outstanding figures of modern Greek painting. The exhibition showcases the artist’s multifaceted, uplifting and deeply Greek creative output in a gesture of powerful symbolism, being the first retrospective dedicated to a Greek artist in the new National Gallery, following on the first, monumental temporary exhibition “The Art of Portraiture in the Louvre Collections”.
Konstantinos Parthenis’s life and career spans from the late 19th century until the late 1960s, when he lived and worked in his home studio at the foot of the Acropolis. Alexandria, Vienna, Paris, Corfu and Athens are landmark cities in a career that is yet to be comprehensively documented and definitively assessed in art history. In his painting, Parthenis developed a creative dialogue with the modernist movement while maintaining his own distinct style, where iconographic references to antique and Byzantine art expand his extraordinary painting vocabulary, which evolved steadily throughout his life in a wide range of works.
He pioneered a groundbreaking approach to modernism and justified his belief that the artist deserves recognition and support from the state.
With his appointment as professor to the Athens School of Fine Arts, he changed the way art was taught and introduced a new ethics in fine art education. His close friendship with intellectuals and politicians, as well as his views on the political turbulence of Greek history in the interwar period, left a strong mark on his career and work.
The tensions his presence generated in his colleagues and his courageous withdrawal to his home studio in the last 30 years of his life gave rise to a mystery surrounding his often esoteric painting.
Most of Konstantinos Parthenis’s paintings, drawings and documents are in the National Gallery collections. Their provenance is mainly by bequest from the artist’s two children. For the first time in this retrospective, selected exhibits from the museum’s collections are complemented by major works from private and public collections, which trace with sobriety, clarity and simplicity the evolution of his painting.
Marina Lambraki Plaka
Director, National Gallery – Alexandros Soutsos Museum
Translated by Dimitris Saltabassis
Curatorship: Zina Kaloudi, Curator of the National Gallery
Closed: 25 and 26 December and 1, 6 January and 27 February (Ash Monday). The first comprehensive retrospective exhibition dedicated to the oeuvre of one of the most outstanding figures of modern Greek painting.
Reduced ticket: 5€
Konstantinos Parthenis’s life and career spans from the late 19th century until the late 1960s, when he lived and worked in his home studio at the foot of the Acropolis. Alexandria, Vienna, Paris, Corfu and Athens are landmark cities in a career that is yet to be comprehensively documented and definitively assessed in art history. In his painting, Parthenis developed a creative dialogue with the modernist movement while maintaining his own distinct style, where iconographic references to antique and Byzantine art expand his extraordinary painting vocabulary, which evolved steadily throughout his life in a wide range of works.
He pioneered a groundbreaking approach to modernism and justified his belief that the artist deserves recognition and support from the state.
With his appointment as professor to the Athens School of Fine Arts, he changed the way art was taught and introduced a new ethics in fine art education. His close friendship with intellectuals and politicians, as well as his views on the political turbulence of Greek history in the interwar period, left a strong mark on his career and work.
The tensions his presence generated in his colleagues and his courageous withdrawal to his home studio in the last 30 years of his life gave rise to a mystery surrounding his often esoteric painting.
Most of Konstantinos Parthenis’s paintings, drawings and documents are in the National Gallery collections. Their provenance is mainly by bequest from the artist’s two children. For the first time in this retrospective, selected exhibits from the museum’s collections are complemented by major works from private and public collections, which trace with sobriety, clarity and simplicity the evolution of his painting.
Marina Lambraki Plaka
Director, National Gallery – Alexandros Soutsos Museum
Translated by Dimitris Saltabassis
Curatorship: Zina Kaloudi, Curator of the National Gallery
Closed: 25 and 26 December and 1, 6 January and 27 February (Ash Monday). The first comprehensive retrospective exhibition dedicated to the oeuvre of one of the most outstanding figures of modern Greek painting.
Ticket Details
General admission: 10€Reduced ticket: 5€