{"id":254921,"date":"2026-07-01T12:01:45","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T09:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nationalgallery.gr\/?post_type=anakoinwseis&p=254921"},"modified":"2026-07-01T12:27:52","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T09:27:52","slug":"july-at-the-national-gallery-alexandros-soutsos-museum","status":"publish","type":"anakoinwseis","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalgallery.gr\/en\/announcements\/july-at-the-national-gallery-alexandros-soutsos-museum\/","title":{"rendered":"July at the National Gallery \u2013 Alexandros Soutsos Museum"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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July at the National Gallery \u2013 Alexandros Soutsos Museum<\/strong><\/p>\n

When we look at Wassili Lepanto\u2019s Monemvasia, a Byzantine City<\/em>, we have the sense of either approaching the harbour of this historic town or departing from it. In either case, our distance from this landscape, at once man-made and natural, evokes the relationship between humanity and nature \u2013 a recurrent and central theme in the work of the Greek diaspora artist Wassili Lepanto, born Vasilis Loukopoulos. A focused selection of his work will be presented in the new exhibition Wassili Lepanto. Landscapes of the Soul<\/em><\/strong>, opening on Wednesday, 29 July 2026, at the Coumantaros Art Gallery, Sparta \u2013 National Gallery Annex.<\/p>\n

The exhibition brings together ten works by Lepanto that engage with historic landscapes in Greece. All the works come from the collections of the National Gallery \u2013 Alexandros Soutsos Museum and the Benaki Museum, and most belong to the donation made to the two institutions after the artist\u2019s death. Renowned historic and archaeological sites, including Mystras, Monemvasia, Akronafplia, Argos, Kythera, Mount Athos and the village of Olympos on the island of Karpathos, are seen through the distinctive artistic gaze of this painter-philosopher.<\/p>\n

The question of the relationship between humanity and the surrounding world also remains at the heart of the public programme accompanying the temporary exhibition The Avant-Garde World: City, Nature, Universe, Human<\/em><\/strong>. Through specially designed guided tours and educational programmes led by the National Gallery\u2019s curators and museum educators, the programme explores nature, the city and the cosmos.<\/p>\n

On the last day of June, we open a new exhibition at the Old Customs House of Nafplion, titled Open Horizons<\/em><\/strong>. The exhibition invites a constructive dialogue on what it means to belong to more than one culture at the same time, and on how the diaspora can serve as a source of cultural wealth and renewal. It focuses on the historical phenomenon of diasporic and hybrid identity through the works of five artists of Greek descent 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 spaces of the Old Customs House of Nafplion, following the exhibition Sea, Life-Giving Breath<\/em> in July 2025.<\/p>\n

At the Corfu Annex, tomorrow, Friday 26 June, we open the exhibition, Alekos Fassianos. Under the Summer Sun<\/em>. Alekos Fassianos\u2019s poetic gaze unfolds through figures, colours and moments inspired by everyday life and memory. The exhibition brings together 46 works by the artist \u2013\u00a0 \u00a0oils, acrylics and prints \u2013 offering a representative overview of his creative trajectory. The works are drawn from the collection of the National Gallery, the Alekos Fassianos Museum, and private collections, spanning almost six decades of artistic production. Together, they reveal both the consistency and the evolution of the artist\u2019s practice, as well as his distinctive ability to transform the \u201csmall, ordinary\u201d moments into images full of life and intensity.<\/p>\n

A few words on our international activities:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Last month, the National Gallery participated in an important international initiative dedicated to the study and promotion of the work of Dom\u00e9nikos Theotok\u00f3poulos<\/strong>, widely known as El Greco, in collaboration with Factum Foundation<\/strong>. As part of the programme, a high-precision digital recording was carried out of The Concert of the Angels<\/em>, a painting from the permanent collection of the National Gallery \u2013 Alexandros Soutsos Museum. The work is a section of a larger composition that was originally commissioned for the church of the Hospital de Tavera in Toledo, later separated and now dispersed across different collections and museums.<\/p>\n

The aim of this initiative is the virtual reunification of the individual parts of the work, harnessing the possibilities offered by modern digital technologies. Thanks to the collaboration of institutions from different countries, the project highlights the importance of international knowledge exchange and of connecting collections. At the same time, the initiatives creates new opportunities for understanding and presenting cultural heritage to wider audiences. This collaboration reflects some of the National Gallery\u2019s key current priorities: bringing together historical research and technological innovation, strengthening international partnerships, and broadening access to knowledge, with the aim of fostering a more open, outward-looking, and contemporary approach to its collections.<\/p>\n

Coumantaros Art Gallery, Sparta \u2013 Annex of the National Gallery<\/u><\/strong>
\n<\/u>New exhibition: Wassili Lepanto. Landscapes of the Soul<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThree things left their mark on my life:
\n\u2014 The greenery in Germany
\n\u2014 The student movement
\n\u2014 My studies in German Philology
\nThe greenery in Germany awakened in me a profound sense of enthusiasm.
\nThe student movement made me a critical thinker, a rebel.
\nThe study of Literature taught me to love people.
\nThe result: these three elements combined are what made me an artist.\u201d
\nW.L.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Coumantaros Art Gallery, Sparta \u2013 Annex of the National Gallery presents the exhibition Wassili Lepanto. Landscapes of the Soul<\/em>, dedicated to the historical, human-shaped landscape which, in Wassili Lepanto\u2019s 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 \u2013 as a landscape of the soul.<\/p>\n

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 \u2013 Alexandros Soutsos Museum and the Benaki Museum; the majority belong to the donation made to the two institutions after the artist\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cAthens of the North,\u201d which became his second homeland.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cArt for Man or an Ecological Art\u201d<\/em>, a distillation of his philosophy on art and life.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Director, National Gallery \u2013 Alexandros Soutsos Museum:<\/strong> Syrago Tsiara
\nExhibition curator:<\/strong> Monika Diamanti, Head of the Sparta Annex
\nOpening:<\/strong> Wednesday 29 July 2026
\nTime:<\/strong> 19:00
\nVenue: <\/strong>Coumantaros Art Gallery, Sparta \u2013 Annex of the National Gallery
\nAddress<\/strong>: 123 Konstantinou Palaiologou & Thermopylon, Sparta, 23100
\nTel<\/strong>.: +30 27310 81822, +30 27310 81557
\nOpening hours:<\/strong> 8:00\u201315:00; closed on Tuesdays<\/p>\n

The National Gallery is funded by the Ministry of Culture.
\nThe exhibition is realised with the support of COUMANTARIOS AMKE.<\/p>\n

Old Customs House, Nafplion<\/u><\/strong>
\n<\/u>
\nOpen Horizons<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Creation is not the result of what we want to do. It is the result of the whole cosmic process\u2026. If one approaches it right, he can give it form\u2026. The only thing that prompts this kind of vision is love\u2026I mean the whole love, eros and agape, the divine and human reconciled, as the Greeks knew it\u2026. This is what I am trying to do, to reconcile man and the cosmos.
\nMichael Lekakis, 1969<\/em><\/p>\n

With its new exhibition, titled Open Horizons<\/em><\/strong>, the National Gallery \u2013 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<\/strong>, following the exhibition Sea, Life-Giving Breath<\/em> in July 2025.<\/p>\n

Historically, the Old Customs House served as a crossing point for people, goods and ideas moving by sea. The theme of \u201cOpen Horizons\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

The exhibition brings together twelve works from the collection of the National Gallery \u2013 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 Constant (Giorgos Konstantinopoulos), Michael Lekakis, Theodoros Hios, Theodoros Stamos, and Athena Tacha.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Curated by<\/strong>:
\nSyrago Tsiara, Director of the National Gallery \u2013 Alexandros Soutsos Museum
\nLambrini Karakourti-Orfanopoulou, Head of the Nafplion Annex<\/p>\n

Opening<\/strong>: Tuesday, 30 June 2026
\nTime<\/strong>: 19:30
\nVenue<\/strong>: Old Customs House, Nafplion
\nOpening hours<\/strong>: Daily, 11:00\u201313:00 and 18:00\u201300:00
\nExhibition duration<\/strong>: 30 June \u2013 4 October 2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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