Participation in the exhibition “Michalis Economou: The alchemy of painting”

3 works of art

The Alpha Bank Art Collection is loaning 3 works of art by the Greek painter to the exhibition “Michalis Economou: The alchemy of painting”:

• Ocean, 1920-30, oil on cardboard, 50 x 64 cm
• House in Southern France, 1920, oil on cardboard, 42.5 x 65.5 cm
• Red Boat at Sea, oil on canvas, 27 x 35 cm

A major retrospective exhibition

The exhibition “Michalis Economou: The alchemy of painting” is the 1st major retrospective exhibition for this artist. It is the result of original research and painstaking study by the curator, Dr Aphrodite Kouria.

It presents 120 works by Michalis Economou which showcase his immense talent. Additionally, it includes works from museums, foundations and private collectors.

The exhibition venue is fully accessible to people with mobility impairments thanks to a donation by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF). The exhibition opened on 30.09.2023 and is held under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture.

A few words about the exhibition's curator

As the exhibition’s curator, Dr Aphrodite Kouria, points out, “A close examination of the art produced by Michalis Economou in the short span of his career and life gives one the feeling that the simple, commonplace themes that consistently recur in the artist’s work essentially serve as pretexts for conquering the subject that preoccupies him, which is his own, inner-psychological landscape.

It is as if, from one work to the next, he is pursuing an ideal landscape that always eludes him [...]. The dialogue between representation and abstraction, material and immaterial, visual and tactile, solid/static and fluid/fleeting, as well as the illusory qualities of the painted image appear in very interesting variations in Economou's art.”

Exhibition catalogue

The exhibition is accompanied by a bilingual catalogue in Greek and English, which includes:

• Colour reproductions of the artist’s works and photographs
• Extensive CV of Michalis Economou
• Texts by Aphrodite Kouria, exhibition curator
• A text by Christina Karadima, conservator of the artist’s works, which showcases the Greek painter’s complex technique, based on a comparative study of 25 representative paintings by the artist
• A conversation between contemporary Greek painter George Rorris and Economou's oeuvre

Documentary screening

The Averoff Museum is also screening the 30-minute documentary The Autobiography of a Portrait: Giorgos Rorris paints Evangelos Averoff.

The documentary follows the artist’s creative journey over a period of about 2.5 months, from the original commissioning of the work, through his preparatory work and research, his meeting and association with the subject he has to paint, the first brush strokes and the anguished process, up to the completion of the work, which is exhibited at the Averoff Museum.

View the event calendar.

Michalis Economou (1888-1933) was one of the most significant figures who revived 20th-century Greek painting, mainly in the genre of landscapes. Through this revival, he managed to coin his own personal artistic vocabulary.

The technique he used in his paintings is particularly interesting. He dared to introduce groundbreaking experimentations in Greek painting of the time, mainly with the materials he used and the balance between representation and abstraction.

However, despite his immense talent, he was one of the lesser known and least promoted Greek painters.