Community of People: The representation of the human form from the post-Byzantine era to contemporary Greek painting

Item

Title

Art

Date

8 November-8 December 2021

Date Issued

2021

Abstract

The Embassy of Greece to the Holy See (Vatican), in collaboration with the National Gallery–Alexandros Soutsos Museum organises the exhibition “Community of People: The representation of the human form from the post-Byzantine era to contemporary Greek painting” at the Vatican in Rome. The joint initiative aims to celebrate two anniversaries: 40 years since the exchange of ambassadors between the Hellenic Republic and the Holy See (1980) and, of course, the bicentenary of the national regeneration (1821). In connection with the spirit of the two anniversaries and the special religious character of the Vatican, the theme of the exhibition is the depiction of the human form in modern Greek art, from the post-Byzantine period to the modern era. Emphasis is placed on the transition from the rigor of the religious view of the human form to the freedom of experimentation in the light of the current international artistic currents in Europe with which the artists came into contact in the free Greek state from the 1830s onwards. The curator of the exhibition is Olga Mentzafou, Honorary Director of Collections and Museological Planning of the National Gallery, with a collaboration with Maria Migadi, an independent art historian.

(Edited and translated description from mfa.gr website)