OPENING: Wednesday 29 July 2026
“Three things left their mark on my life:
— The greenery in Germany
— The student movement
— My studies in German Philology
The greenery in Germany awakened in me a profound sense of enthusiasm.
The student movement made me a critical thinker, a rebel.
The study of Literature taught me to love people.
The result: these three elements combined are what made me an artist.”
W.L.
The Coumantaros Art Gallery, Sparta – Annex of the National Gallery presents the exhibition Wassili Lepanto. Landscapes of the Soul, dedicated to the historical, human-shaped landscape which, in Wassili Lepanto’s thought and work, is inextricably linked to the natural world. The artist interprets the landscape not simply by capturing its external features, but as an inner revelation, as a means of elevating the human mind – as a landscape of the soul.
The exhibition brings together ten works by Lepanto that engage with historic landscapes in Greece. The works are drawn from the collections of the National Gallery – Alexandros Soutsos Museum and the Benaki Museum; the majority belong to the donation made to the two institutions after the artist’s death. Well-known historic and archaeological sites, including Mystras, Monemvasia, Akronafplia, Argos, Kythera, Mount Athos and Olympos on the island of Karpathos, are seen through the distinctive gaze of the painter-philosopher.
The painter Vassilis Lepanto (Dr Vassilis Loukopoulos) was born in Perdikovrysi, in the mountainous Nafpaktia region, in 1940, and grew up in Athens. He moved to Germany to study German Philology, History and Philosophy, and completed his doctoral dissertation with a scholarship at the University of Mannheim. He died in 2018 in Heidelberg, the “Athens of the North,” which became his second homeland.
In the late 1970s, at a mature stage in his life, he interrupted his academic career and decided to devote himself entirely to painting. In 1983, he published the manifesto “Art for Man or an Ecological Art”, a distillation of his philosophy on art and life.
He was primarily engaged with landscape painting and, in his works, presents nature as an ally, seeking the balance of the ecosystem and harmony with humankind. As an active citizen and municipal councillor in Heidelberg, he was involved in the protection of the natural and historical environment.
Director, National Gallery – Alexandros Soutsos Museum: Syrago Tsiara
Exhibition curator: Monika Diamanti, Head of the Sparta Annex
Opening: Wednesday 29 July 2026
Time: 19:00
Venue: Coumantaros Art Gallery, Sparta – Annex of the National Gallery
Address: 123 Konstantinou Palaiologou & Thermopylon, Sparta, 23100
Tel.: +30 27310 81822, +30 27310 81557
Opening hours: 8:00–15:00; closed on Tuesdays
The National Gallery is funded by the Ministry of Culture.
The exhibition is realised with the support of COUMANTARIOS AMKE.
