History

1834 – 1897. The historical background to the founding of the National Gallery

The care for creating art collections is almost as old as the independent Greek state, expressing the Greeks’ desire to see the arts reborn in their ancient cradle. The law “On scientific and technological collections, on the discovery and preservation of antiquities and their use” in 1834 provided for the establishment of an Art Gallery for the first time. In 1836, Leo von Klenze, the architect of Ludwig I of Bavaria, drew up plans for the construction of a complex museum, the Pantechnion, which would house collections of paintings, drawings, and engravings, as well as a School of Fine Arts. However, these plans were never realized.

The first attempt to create an art collection to be housed in the Pantechnion took place in 1841 by the director of the Polytechnic School (National Technical University) Friedrich Zentner. Zentner transferred all the artworks assembled at the Ministry of the Interior to the Polytechnic, where those collected in Aegina by Ioannis Kapodistrias, first Governor of the modern Greek state, had already been relocated. In 1878 the first Art Gallery opened to the public, featuring a collection of 117 paintings, primarily by foreign artists. Forty-four of these came from the University’s collection – part of which was an 1865 donation by the writer and scholar Stefanos Xenos (1821-1894) – while the rest belonged to the old gallery of the School of Arts, established in 1837, and also originated from donations. However, this initiative, although welcomed enthusiastically, did not lead to any further action.

In 1892, the Minister of Ecclesiastical Affairs and Public Education, Konstantinos Papamichalopoulos, based on the law of 1834, established a committee to investigate the conditions and prepare for the founding of a public Art Gallery. In 1893, the new Minister of Ecclesiastical Affairs and Public Education, Athanassios Eftaxias, introduced a bill to Parliament for the foundation of an art museum, but it failed to pass.

In 1895, the will of Alexandros Soutsos (1839-1895) – a jurist, art lover, and founding member of the Society of the Friends of the People – was published. In it, the testator bequeathed his estate to the Greek state for the purpose of establishing and maintaining a Museum of Painting, under the name “Alexandros Soutsos Museum”. The museum was to be housed in his home on Filellinon Street and, with his collection forming the nucleus, it would include “…original works of various schools by painters who had died at least thirty years prior, and original drawings (dessins) […] a numismatic collection based on the one left by my father […] a library based on my own […] various works of art (objets d’art), Byzantine, Medieval, and Renaissance.”

In 1897, Athanassios Eftaxias, submitted a draft decree to King George I for the establishment of a Museum of Fine Arts. Based on this draft, a royal decree was published on September 18, 1897, ordering the establishment of a “Museum of Fine Arts”, with its temporary headquarters at the Sinaean Academy. This laid the foundations for the establishment of the first state Art Gallery in Greece and the wider region of the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean. According to the decree, the Museum would house: “a) works of Byzantine and Christian art from early Christian times, especially frescoes currently stored in the National Museum or scattered throughout the State, b) copies, engravings, and any depictions of the prominent painters of the West, c) paintings by foreign artists and Greeks of recognized fame in Europe. Sculptural works from early Christian times are also to be deposited in this Museum.”

The supervision of the museum was to be held by a Supervisor and a six-member Committee, whose duties were also defined. The Committee would consist of the Director of the School of Fine Arts (serving as the director of the School of Industrial Arts) as president, the General Supervisor of Antiquities and Museums, the Supervisor of the Museum of Fine Arts, and four other members, at least two of whom had to be prominent artists, either active or former professors of the School of Fine Arts. Furthermore, eminent Greek artists living abroad could, by decision of the Minister, be appointed as corresponding or – the most distinguished – honorary members of the Committee. The Committee’s mandate included the provision for acquiring works to enrich the collections, alongside deciding on acquisitions and the acceptance of proposed donations, subject to Ministry approval.

The nucleus of the collections would consist of works belonging to the government and public institutions that the Committee deemed significant, as well as Byzantine frescoes that could be detached, while in the future, the museum could be enriched through purchases and donations.

The museum envisioned by Athanassios Eftaxias never materialized, since the 1897 decree was superseded by the decree of June 28, 1900, “On the regulation of the Art Gallery in Athens”.

The National Gallery was founded on 10 April 1900 by  Law ΒΨΛΔ΄,  which provided for a supervisor; the painter Georgios Iakovidis (1853-1932) was appointed to this post. On June 28 1900, the Gallery’s rules of operation were laid down, according to which ‘The purpose of establishing an Art Gallery in Athens is the development and advancement among us of the sense of the beautiful, through the acquisition and exhibition to public view of works of the visual arts, and more specifically the instruction and study therein of those engaged in the fine arts.’ The artworks in its collection were divided into six sections, including ‘Byzantine… Medieval… Modern art (oil paintings)… watercolours, pastels and drawings… copies of paintings in other collections, and prints (woodcuts, copper engravings and other kinds of engravings…)’. The collection core consisted of 258 works of art from the collections of the National Technical University (NTUA) and the University of Athens, which were delivered to Georgios Iakovidis by NTUA’s director, Anastassios Theofilas, on 28 July 1900, as well as by the collection of lawyer and art connoisseur Alexandros Soutsos (1839-1895), who bequeathed his estate to the Greek state for the purpose of establishing and maintaining a museum of painting. His collection was delivered by Natalia Soutsou on 21 June 1901.

The rules of operation further provided for the establishment of an Art History library and granted the curator the right to enrich the founding core of the collection with selected works from various public institutions. The curator was likewise entitled to make purchases by submitting a reasoned proposal, subject to approval by the Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs and Public Education, under whose authority the Gallery had been placed. In addition, to meet its needs – and in particular to enrich its holdings with works of art – it was empowered to accept monetary donations, subscriptions and bequests.
As regards the question of housing, until such time as it acquired its own building, the Gallery was to be housed on the upper floor of the central wing of the National Technical University in Athens.

On 24 February 1906, a royal decree was issued, whereby a six-member supervisory committee was appointed, consisting of leading personalities of the country’s political and entrepreneurial life: the later prime minister, Stefanos Skouloudis, and Stefanos P. Rallis, Markos Dragoumis, Petros Kalligas, Spyridon Stais and ThemosAnninos. The committee, in co-operation with the supervisor, was responsible for displaying, enriching, developing and preserving the gallery’s collections. In addition, the Gallery secured financial support – 3,000 Drachmas per year – for the first time, from the bequest of the Greek-diaspora benefactor, Dimitrios Doridis, who had left his fortune to the Greek nation to be used in public institutions.

Collection enrichment was facilitated by adopting laws that ensured the allocation of art works to the Gallery, as well as by generous contributions by individuals inside and outside Greece. In this context, on 6 April 1911, the Georgios Averoff Estate Trustees donated to the Gallery the 80 paintings in Averoff’s collection, as well as 15 more, acquired with the estate’s funds, all of which went on display in a room of their own, named ‘Averoff Art Gallery’, according to the donor’s wish. Expatriate Greeks Theodoros and Aikaterini Rodocanaki, along with Grigorios Maraslis, were also among the greatest donors. The most significant bequests include those of the scholar Dimitrios Vikelas, the painter Theodoros Rallis, the expatriate businessman, banker, and national benefactor Marinos Korgialenios, and Roxani Kozaki-Typaldou.

The first major exhibition of works from the Gallery’s collection was announced in 1912, but only opened in 1915. Some 300 paintings, conserved by the painter Georgios Chatzopoulos, were shown in six large NTUA rooms.

In collaboration with the supervisory committee, Georgios Iakovidis also made strenuous efforts to resolve the housing issue, as the Gallery was in need of housing of its own, having been housed since its founding on the upper floor of NTUA’s main building. These efforts fell through due to disagreement over the building’s architectural style and location. In 1914, by law 477, a plot of land on Vassilissis Sofias Avenue and Rizari Street had been allocated; however, the building was not constructed, due to the objections of the military, to which the site belonged.

Nevertheless, in order to further the Gallery’s educational programme, Iakovidis introduced free admission for the public every Saturday and Sunday to NTUA’s rooms, which also served as an exhibition venue. He also published the Gallery’s first catalogues, in 1906 (which included the rules of operation) and 1915; moreover, he succeeded in securing two positions for ‘curators’, as conservators were called at the time, taken up by the painters Georgios Hatzopoulos and Odysseas Fokas.

Georgios Iakovidis served as the Gallery’s supervisor until 1918. In that year, a law was enacted which abolished the position of supervisor and established the post of director. This position was assumed by the man of letters and art lover Zacharias Papantoniou.

In 1918, the Liberal government enacted Law 1434, ‘On the Organization of the National Gallery,’ which provided for a radical reorganization and upgrading of the museum, both at an administrative and financial level. Among other things, the law abolished the position of a supervisor and instituted the post of a director, which was taken by the writer and art critic Zacharias Papantoniou. The supervision and management of the Gallery were entrusted to a seven-member committee, replacing the previous six-member body, while the staff was also expanded, comprising: ‘[…] 2) the deputy director or, in his absence, a secretary; 3) the first and second curators; 4) five conservators; 5) a chief guard and three guards; 6) two attendants (male or female),’ whose salaries were likewise specified.

An annual grant from the ministry’s budget was set up for collection enrichment, for the first time, and a Board for artistic matters was established to advise the Ministry on acquisitions and donation acceptance, in place of the supervisor and the supervisory committee. The first Art Board consisted of Georgios Iakovidis (chairman) and members Zacharias Papantoniou, the painters Georgios Chatzopoulos and Konstantinos Maleas, and the writer Konstantinos Chatzopoulos.

The same law also established, for the first time, a Sculpture collection.

Papantoniou sought to resolve the Gallery’s major issues, unsuccessfully. He worked towards the merger of the National Gallery and the estate of jurist and art lover Alexandros Soutsos (1839-1895), who bequeathed his estate to the Greek state for the purpose of establishing and maintaining a museum of painting. In 1926, to resolve the housing issue, in cooperation with the Soutsos Estate Trustees, he acquired the Iliou Melathron, but cancelled the acquisition when he found out that the building was not suitable for a museum.

Acquisitions to enrich the collections using the annual subsidy by the ministry, or special state subsidies involved works mainly by Greek artists, including Nikolaos Doxaras, Nikolaos Kantounis, Nikolaos Gyzis, Nikephoros and Nikolaos Lytras, Konstantinos Maleas, Dimitris Galanis, Panos Aravantinos, Konstantinos Parthenis, Nikolaos Cheimonas, Periklis Pantazis and Vassilios Hatzis, so as to provide a representative overview of painting from the Ionian School to modern times.
The first acquisition, funded by the Ministry’s budget, took place in 1919, when the Supervisory Committee, at its meeting of 9 April, approved the proposal of the Artistic Council to acquire The Slope by Konstantinos Parthenis. In 1931, moreover, the National Gallery’s most important acquisition was made at auction in Munich: Domenikos Theotokopoulos’s Concert of the Angels, the upper part of his Annunciation, was acquired for the sum of 5,900,775 Drachmas.
Donations were made by the Ministries of Education, Foreign Affairs and Transport, by the Bank of Greece and various institutions, by individuals – the largest of which was by K.G. Konstantinidis of Pontus – by artists or their families, as well as by members of the Supervisory Committee. Among the most significant bequests were those of Apostolos Chatziargyris, Alexandros Zachariou, Stefanos Skouloudis, Spyros Velentzas, and Nikolaos Diamantopoulos.

During Zacharias Papantoniou’s tenure, the Sculpture Collection was also inaugurated. In 1933, following unsuccessful attempts to purchase works, Antonios Benakis – founder of the eponymous museum, member of the Gallery’s Supervisory Committee from 1926 and its president from 1941 until his death in 1954 – donated to the museum its first sculpture, Female Torso by Konstantinos Dimitriadis. Thus, when the permanent display of the Painting Collection was reinstalled in 1934, four sculptures acquired through donations were presented to the public for the first time.

Papantoniou opened the museum to the public on a daily basis, introducing visiting hours with free admission.

In 1921, following the Liberals’ defeat in the 1920 elections, Papantoniou was removed from the directorship; however, he returned in 1923 by Royal Decree. He remained in this position until his death on February 1, 1940.

On April 1, 1940, two months after the death of Zacharias Papantoniou, the painter and conservator Georgios Stratigos (1876-1944) took over as the National Gallery’s director, but his office was also cut short when he died in November 1944. On 26 August 1945, the archaeologist Dimitrios Evanghelidis (1886-1959) temporarily took over as director, remaining in this position until 28 February 1947. On 1 March 1947, he was succeeded by the archaeologist and art historian Nikolaos Bertos (1885-1949), whose tenure was also interrupted by his death on 11 January 1949.

On 23 November 1944, Law 46, ‘On the Amendment and Supplementation of Law 2867/1922,’ was passed. In a single article, the law stipulated that: ‘The Director of the National Gallery shall be appointed by Decree, with the rank and salary of a full professor of the School of Fine Arts, being an accomplished visual artist with specialised studies abroad who has distinguished himself at official international exhibitions, or a graduate of a domestic or foreign equivalent university with specialised studies in aesthetics and the fine arts, possessing – through writings of an aesthetic and artistic nature – proven competence in art criticism,’ thereby opening the way to archaeologists and art historians.

During the War and the German occupation, the main concern was to safeguard the artworks, which were transferred to the National Archaeological Museum and the most valuable among them to the Bank of Greece treasury. In January 1941, however, the Gallery was obliged to vacate the National Technical University building, which was requisitioned to host a military hospital for the wounded and later used by the German occupation army. Its premises were immediately re-occupied by the NTUA, on the grounds that the number of students and therefore the teaching needs had increased. In a formal communication to the Ministry of Religious Affairs and National Education in August 1941, the Supervisory Committee described the loss of the premises as a “most severe blow”, as the artworks were stored in crates and at risk of deterioration due to the lack of ventilation and natural light; the Committee urgently requested the procurement of alternative facilities as soon as possible. However, the issue was not immediately resolved;  the National Gallery was temporarily housed at the Benaki Museum while the artworks remained in storage. It was not until June 1946 that two floors of the Casa d’Italia building were allocated to the Gallery. Nevertheless, the Casa d’ Italia proved to be an inadequate venue. The Supervisory Committee addressed a stern and agonizing letter to the Minister of Finance in December 1946, depicting the situation in the direst terms. Nikolaos Bertos also placed emphasis on the unsuitability of the premises in the ‘Inventory Bulletin of Real Estate Used for the Housing of Public Services,’ addressed in September 1947, to the Directorate of Fine Arts of the Ministry of Education; therein, he requested the re-establishment of the National Gallery within the premises of the NTUA. Finally, in 1948, a wing of the old National Archaeological Museum building was granted, where the artworks were transferred immediately. In January 1950, however, the Gallery was once again forced to vacate its new premises due to construction work scheduled for the Museum’s wing and return to Casa d’ Italia, where it remained housed until 1955.

The museum’s limited operation in the 1940s only permitted minimal enrichment of the painting collection. Nevertheless, in 1946, the Gallery received a very generous donation. Odysseas Fokas, a conservator since 1915, bequeathed his movable and immovable property ‘for the enrichment of the international modern art section’. His bequest made Fokas the second great benefactor, following Alexandros Soutsos.

In addition, after the Liberation, a substantial donation of French artists’works was made – in tribute to the Greek people’s heroic stance during the German occupation – an idea put forth in 1942 by intellectual and literary figure Roger Milliex and his companion, Tatiana Gritsi-Milliex. It comprised 28 paintings, 6 drawings, 6 engravings, 4 sculptures and 2 books, delivered to the National Gallery in July 1949. In the same year, through the Nikolaos I. Iliopoulos bequest, the Sculpture collection was enriched with five characteristic 19th-century sculptures from the Thon Villa, which had been destroyed in December 1944.

On June 6, 1949, the art historian and Byzantinist Marinos Kalligas (1906-1985) assumed the directorship of the National Gallery, remaining in this position until May 2, 1971. Under his leadership, the museum moved into a new era, resolving long-standing issues or setting the stage for their eventual solution.

Securing permanent premises

Securing permanent premises was one of the first priorities for Marinos Kalligas. From 1950 onwards, the National Gallery was housed in the Casa d’ Italia. In 1955 it moved to two floors at 11, Kolokotroni Street, since Casa d’ Italia had been handed back to the Italian state. In 1959, both the administration and the artworks moved to the Artillery barracks at the corner of Rizari Street and Vassilissis Sofias Avenue. In 1956, however, a competition had been launched for the construction of a building. The proposal by architects Pavlos Mylonas, Dimitris Fatouros and Nikos Moutsopoulos was selected. However, despite the commencement of excavation works for the building’s foundation, the Undersecretary of Housing issued a decision on February 13, 1959, to suspend operations temporarily. This was due to the government’s announcement of an urban and architectural competition for the development of Athens’ ‘Cultural Center’, into which the Gallery was to be integrated. This decision sparked vehement reactions from the Director and the Board of Directors, who drafted a formal protest memorandum published in the newspaper Ta Nea on May 19, 1959. Resolutory protests against the suspension were also issued by the Byzantine Museum, the Athens Conservatory, the Chamber of Fine Arts, the Committee of Law 1469/1950, the Faculty Association of the Athens School of Fine Arts, and other institutions, alongside numerous intellectuals. Nevertheless, the construction on that specific site was aborted. In compensation, a plot within the triangle of Vassileos Konstantinou, Vassileos Alexandrou, and Michalakopoulou streets was granted to the Gallery in 1960, where, on November 26, 1964, the foundation stone of the first of its current buildings was laid.

The construction on the new plot was based on the original design, which was revised by Pavlos Mylonas and Dimitris Fatouros, as Nikos Moutsopoulos had assumed his duties as a professor at the Faculty of Engineering of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Subsequently, Dimitris Antonakakis joined the team. To practically verify the structural integrity and functional efficacy of the design – specifically regarding lighting, hanging systems, and the display of artworks – a full-scale mock-up of a hall was constructed using wood, hardboard, and fabric; within this structure, panels were installed and paintings were hung for experimental testing.

The  first section of the building was completed in 1968. The building was a two-story structure with a downward-sloping development. The ground floor housed the museum entrance and a hall for temporary exhibitions, while the lower level contained interim storage facilities, a cafeteria, and other amenities. A mezzanine floor was also incorporated, which served as the temporary site for the director’s and staff’s offices until the completion of the second section.

The first exhibition with works from the collections was inaugurated on 14 May 1970. Mean while, in 1968, the National Gallery had once again been forced to move, this time to an apartment at the corner of Efroniou Street and Vassileos Alexandrou Avenue. The artworks went into storage in the building’s basement.

Following Marinos Kalligas, the lawyer and former prefect Andreas Ioannou (1918-1972) was appointed as director of the National Gallery; however, his term was cut short by his death in August 1972.

During Andreas Ioannou’s brief tenure, Alexandros Iolas made a substantial donation of seven artworks by contemporary, mainly foreign artists.

In December 1972, the archaeologist and art historian Dimitris Papastamos (1923-2008) took over the direction of the National Gallery, remaining in this position until October 1989.

During Dimitris Papastamos’s tenure, the National Gallery was firmly consolidated, the result of the final resolution of the question of housing and a radical administrative overhaul.

Following Dimitris Papastamos, Mary Michailidou, Head of the Department of Folk Culture of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, became the Chief Executive Officer since November 1989. In April 1990, she was appointed as director, serving until 14 June 1991.

During her tenure, Mary Michailidou organized a new display of part of the National Gallery’s collections, featuring 19th-century art. Retrospective exhibitions of the oeuvre of mainly Greek but also foreign artists were also organized.

In June 1991, Mary Michailidou was recalled to the Central Service of the Ministry of Culture.

Following Mary Michailidou, Nelly Missirli, curator at the National Gallery since 1961 and Head of the Directorate of Collections, Artistic and Museological Programming, was appointed as director.

During her tenure, significant exhibitions featuring works from the National Gallery’s collections were held, as well as exhibitions of Greek and foreign artists. Furthermore, Nelly Misirli participated – alongside Art History Professor Marina Lambraki-Plaka and painter Panayiotis Tetsis – in the selection committee for European artworks from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., for the organization of the exhibition From El Greco to Cézanne, which opened in December 1992.

Nelly Missirli remained in the directorship until January 1992, as the post had been advertised in the summer of 1991.

On January 17, 1992, the art historian and professor at the Athens School of Fine Arts, Marina Lambraki-Plaka, took over the direction of the National Gallery. She remained in this position until her death, on June 13, 2022.