DO NOT MISS a chance to get to know the work of one of Greece’s best artists, Panagiotis Tetsis, whose retrospective is currently being presented at the National Gallery of Greece. This great artist passed away in 2016, but his legacy lives on, as does his influence on many other artists. Tetsis was born in 1925, on the island of Hydra. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth, the National Gallery of Greece inaugurated on April 10, in the “Antonios E. Komninos Foundation” hall of the temporary exhibitions area, a large retrospective exhibition dedicated to Tetsis’s work, allowing visitors to get to know the many aspects, phazes and themes of this brilliant artist’s oeuvre. The retrospective runs till January 11, 2026.

I remember once showing a painting of Tetsis in a book to someone, and their response was “what’s that?”, to which I had wanted to reply “that, is pure expressionism in all its glory”. Because apart from being a phenomenal colourist, one could also argue that Tetsis took expressionism to new colourful heights, and at times was also balancing on the cusp between expressionism and abstract expressionism: His colours brilliant, his emotions spilt onto the canvas, transformed into dynamic brushstrokes. And seeing this exhibition is an emotional experience, an uplifting one, a moving one, a catharsis.

Tetsis was all about light, but there is some darkness there too. Two of the most striking works in the exhibition, are landscapes with rainbows. There’s Romanticism there, in the way he captures the sublimity of the landscape, but the fact that these landscapes are quite dark, yet there is a rainbow, makes these works go beyond a case of just capturing the light effects in a landscape. Another fascinating fact about Tetsis’s art practice, is the way he organizes the picture-plane so perfectly, into shapes and colours. In some works, the rules of perspective are adhered to, while in others, the artist seems to put them aside, in order to emphasise instead the geometric abstraction created by the amalgam of shapes and colours.

This exhibition is also interesting in terms of allowing the viewer to see a very wide range of Tetsis’s work: from his early works, which are still adhering to a stricter figuration and duller colour palette, and have a stiffness to them, to his later expressionistic works, where finally he sets himself free through his painting practice. Also on show are his brilliant watercolours, and his bold black-and-white etchings.

P. Tetsis, painter, engraver, teacher, academic, who had served as President of the Artistic Committee and President of the Board of Directors of the National Gallery, was one of the most important artists who, with his work and teachings, shaped Greek post-war painting.

The aim of the exhibition is not only to present the artist’s artistic career but also to focus on the artist’s special “gaze” or focus on light and color, approaching his subjects via a colouristic sensibility.

The works “The People’s Market” and “Hydra” are an introduction for the visitor to the world of P. Tetsis. A dive into his work follows. Thematic groups, which are not characterized by a chronological sequence, succeed each other in order to reveal to the viewer the artist’s visual idiom, the way in which he observes the world around him and transforms it into a work of art, a painting, an engraving, a watercolor, a pastel. However, as we get to know the special world of Tetsis, we realize that the thematic units, many times, coincide with the chronological ones.

For long periods of time, lasting four or more years, he studies, almost obsessively, a specific subject. “Series”, “units” are created, such as football players, gardens, balcony doors, chairs, shipyards, landscapes of Sifnos, the market, tables, landscapes of Hydra, boats, seas, portraits of friends, still-lifes, pine trees and finally the rocks of Hydra. These painting series are also explored via other media, such as inks, engravings, watercolors, because he considers them to be communicating vessels and in this way he is given the opportunity to see the result he wants to achieve from many perspectives.

The exhibition presents 160 works, most of which are paintings, etchings, watercolors, and pastels. The majority of the works come from the collection of the National Gallery, which came into possession of these works through donations made by the artist between 1997 and 2015, while 64 of the exhibited works belong to private or institutional collections. The selection of the works aims to highlight the “obsessive” gaze with which the artist observed his environment and transformed it visually, as well as to reveal unknown aspects of his artistic production and style.

Tetsis passed away on March 5, 2016, at the ripe age of 91. He leaves behind not only his vast colourful and expressive oeuvre, but his continuing influence on artists both young and old. A true expressionist and colourist, he is one of Greece’s finest painters. For more on Tetsis, you can also view the following article

• You may also visit the National Gallery’s site here
• The National Gallery of Greece – Alexandros Soutsos Museum, is on 50 Vasileos Konstantinou str., 116 34, Athens. Tel: +30 214 40 86 201. Nearest Metro stop: Evangelismos. General admission 10 euros, reduced entry ticket 5 euros. Free admission for all visitors (without fee payment), on the following dates: every first Sunday of each month from November 1st to March 31st, 6 March  (in memory of Melina Mercouri), 18 April  (International Monuments Day), 18 May  (International Museums Day), the last weekend of September (European Heritage Days).
• Open hours: Monday: 10:00 – 18:00; Tuesday: closed; Wednesday: 12:00 – 20:00; Thursday: 10:00 – 18:00; Friday: 10:00 – 18:00; Saturday: 10:00 – 18:00; Sunday: 10:00 – 18:00;
• Admission up to one hour before closing.
• Closed on Bank Holidays: 1st January, Epifany (6th January),  Ash Monday, 25th March, Good Friday, (open 13.00-17.00), Easter Sunday, Monday after Easter, 1st May, Holy Spirit, 15th August, 28th October, 25th & 26th December

Art Scene Athens’ is written/run by artist/journalist Stella Sevastopoulos. Dedicated to presenting what is happening on the Greek art scene (but not only), and also to giving Greek artists (and artists based in Greece) an international voice on the internet. For more on Stella Sevastopoulos’s art, click here If you would like to be featured in Art Scene Athens, please send email (stelsevas@yahoo.com).