Open Horizons

Creation is not the result of what we want to do. It is the result of the whole cosmic process…. If one approaches it right, he can give it form…. The only thing that prompts this kind of vision is love…I mean the whole love, eros and agape, the divine and human reconciled, as the Greeks knew it…. This is what I am trying to do, to reconcile man and the cosmos.
Michael Lekakis, 1969

With its new exhibition, titled Open Horizons, the National Gallery – Alexandros Soutsos Museum initiates a dialogue on what it means to belong to more than one culture at the same time, and on how diaspora can function as a source of cultural wealth and renewal. The exhibition focuses on the historical phenomenon of the diasporic and hybrid identity of five artists of Greek origin who were active in the United States. This is the second exhibition organised by the Ministry of Culture and the National Gallery in the restored space of the Old Customs House in Nafplion, following the exhibition Sea, Life-Giving Breath in July 2025.

Historically, the Old Customs House served as a crossing point for people, goods and ideas moving by sea. The theme of “Open Horizons” is thus symbolically reinforced: the exhibition traces the constant movement of ideas, people and cultures in a space with numerous stories of movement, exchange, and openness to tell. The National Gallery thereby continues its enduring dialogue with the city of Nafplion on the concept of Greek identity. Hosted in the first capital of the Greek state, this exhibition broadens the perspective towards the Greek diaspora and shows how Greek culture and artistic creation also developed beyond the borders of the state.

The exhibition brings together twelve works from the collection of the National Gallery – Alexandros Soutsos Museum, some of which are being brought out of storage to be shown to the public for the first time. These are works by George Z Constant (Giorgos Konstantinopoulos), Michael Lekakis, Theodoros Hios, Theodoros Stamos, and Athena Tacha.

The mass wave of emigration from the impoverished countries of the European South to America began at the dawn of the twentieth century and continued throughout the interwar years. The need to confront economic hardship and the consequences of the Greek Civil War then gave rise to a new wave of emigration during the 1950s. Whether first-generation immigrants or children of immigrants, the artists featured in the exhibition were either born in America or eventually moved there in search of an environment more welcoming and receptive to their expressive, ideological, and material needs. Overcoming the difficulties of integration by building networks of trust and mutual support, they studied at art academies, became professionally active, and traced their own distinct paths toward the achievement of a personal style. They formed artistic groups, taught at schools of fine arts, gradually earned the recognition of their peers, and distinguished themselves through the exceptional quality of their work. Through their pioneering achievements, they contributed to the shaping of American art and visual culture, marking the transition from eclectic representation to abstraction, geometric art, monochromatic field painting, the ascendancy of Abstract Expressionism, contemporary biomorphic sculpture, and public art of an applied and functional character.

In their work, we discover the use and transformation of primordial cultural memory, a love for the thematic richness of Greek tradition and mythology, as well as a renegotiation of European modernism.

Curated by:
Syrago Tsiara, Director of the National Gallery – Alexandros Soutsos Museum
Lambrini Karakourti-Orfanopoulou, Head of the Nafplion Annex

Opening: Tuesday, 30 June 2026
Time: 19:30
Venue: Old Customs House, Nafplion
Opening hours: Daily, 11:00–13:00 and 18:00–00:00
Exhibition duration: 30 June – 4 October 2026