OPENING SATURDAY 26 APRIL 2025 - G. & E. VATI HALL, ERMOUPOLI - SYROS
"Once upon a canvas"

This spring, Syros is transformed into an epicenter of visual creation, hosting one of the most important exhibitions of the summer. From April 26 to June 14, the Y. & E. Vati Art Gallery in the heart of Ermoupolis welcomes the exhibition Once Upon a Canvas – a visual tribute to the career of ten leading Greek artists who excelled in Paris and left an indelible mark on contemporary European art.

Co-organized by the Municipality of Syros-Ermoupolis and Imagine Visual Arts, the exhibition presents works by: Yannis Gaitis, Nikos Kessanlis, Alkis Pierrakos, Marios Prasinos, Yannis Spyropoulos, Thanos Tsigos, Alekos Fasianos, Pavlos Dionysopoulos, Takis Vasilakis and Yannis Maltezou – creators who transformed their Greek identity through constant dialogue with French modernism.

Paris in the first post-war decades was the cradle of modern art. For Greek artists, it was not just a place of residence, but a spiritual workshop. In this international environment, they developed a personal and authentic visual language. From Takis’ magnetic constructions to Gaitis’ repetitive figures, Kessanlis’ lyrical abstraction, Pavlos’ typological forms, Fasianos’ aesthetic austerity, and Tsigos and Prasinos’ materiality — each work in the exhibition tells a story of transcendence: beyond borders, schools, and national identities.

As the exhibition’s curator, art historian Eleni Gatsa, notes: “This is not an exhibition of nostalgia. It is an exhibition of revision. These creators did not leave Greece – they carried it with them, redefined it, and elevated it. Today, they return as international voices that continue to converse with the present.”

Once Upon a Canvas is a unique opportunity for the general public and art lovers to discover creations that marked post-war European art, highlighting the role of Greek art as an equal interlocutor in international modernism

Opening hours: MONDAY - SUNDAY 12:00 - 15:00 & 19:22 - 22:00

Organized by: GR COLLECTORS - IMAGINE VISUAL ARTS - MUNICIPALITY OF SYROS