The Nafplion Annexe of the National Gallery – Alexandros Soutsos Museum hosts in the temporary exhibition hall an exhibition dedicated to the paintings of Helene Pavlopoulou titled Zoephoros.
The exhibition includes twenty-one artworks which converse with the historical paintings of the permanent collection of the Nafplion Annexe of the National Gallery – Alexandros Soutsos Museum. The goal of the exhibition is not the representation of visual reality but the investigation of new ways of viewing, the search for multiple meanings, and the reinterpretation of the past through the lens of the present. Concepts of freedom and its reclamation, as well as references to the elements and the preservation of our natural environment, constitute major axes of the painter’s personal visual vocabulary.
Helene Pavlopoulou’s visual universe includes many symbolic places: the Parthenon, Athens, Arcadia; It also includes prominent figures: Georgios Gemistos-Plethon, Manuel Chrysoloras, Voltaire, Rigas Feraios, Heroes of the 1821 Revolution, Ioannis Kapodistrias; and symbols such as birds, plants, horses, and fragments of ancient sculptures. Using these archetypes, the painter stands among them in an eternal response, harmoniously condensing them in the limited space of the artwork and transforming socio-political and historical events into powerful poetic allegories.
The bicentenary of the Greek Revolution was a source of inspiration for Helene Pavlopoulou, who rendered the portraits of the fighters in an ethereal, allusive way. Through this transcription, she highlighted the persistent presence of the past in the present and the future, pointing out that the Revolution remains alive within the cracks of time. Drawing inspiration primarily from the portraits of the Bavarian painter Karl Krazeisen (1794 – 1878), she reinterprets the faces of the heroes as markers of collective memory, transcending the bonds of matter and activating the viewer’s emotion for the completion of their image.
The collection of works in this exhibition demonstrates how Helene Pavlopoulou transforms the past into a new universe of dynamic lines and dreamlike diffusion of the colour spectrum, restoring the image of lost unity with nature. Through her works, she approaches timeless themes and invites viewers into a dialogue, underlining the relationship of the art of painting with memory, as the act of painting keeps the traces of past figures and forms alive.
Opening: Saturday, March 28, 20:00
Nafplion Annexe of the National Gallery – Alexandros Soutsos Museum
Sidiras Merarchias 23, Nafplion
General Direction: Syrago Tsiara
Exhibition Curator: Lambrini Karakourti-Orfanopoulou
Production Coordination: Eirini-Dafni Sapka
Visual Identity: A4 DESIGN
Duration: March 28, 2026 – January 17, 2027
