THE CANGELARIS COLLECTION
OF CONTEMPORARY GREEK PAINTING

Panayotis D. Cangelaris started forming "The Cangelaris Collection of Contemporary Greek Painting" at the end of 1978. An art lover with inclination to painting and aesthetics himself, he found in this alternative another expression of his collecting proneness. The Cangelaris Collection comprises exclusively paintings of Greek artists who are living at the time of acquisition.

After Ion Vorres and Dimitri Pieridis who were the first to open to the public their private collections of contemporary Greek artists through the galleries they created in the early '80s, Panayotis D. Cangelaris together with Vlassis Frissiras are the first to edit books with parts of their collections (around 1990).  Especially his book was the first ever published in Greece in the scientific form of a catalogue raisonné (1991).  He is also the first Greek art collector to have exhibited part of his collection abroad (1992) and the first to have uploaded the whole of it on the internet (1998) in order to promote contemporary Greek visual art creation all over the world.  

Modern Greek painting has shown a large range of artists, many of whom have distinguished themselves in Greece and abroad. Far from being limited by the influence of international art tendencies they are capable of making a genuine contribution themselves, shaping forces and trends and breaking new grounds fertile enough to feed the future.

The multiplicity and profusion of their strivings and the eloquence and expressive truth of their observations are striking. In their work, one can easily distinguish the forms, current questionings and experimental configurations. Although art is now becoming more and more international, the special character associated with the artist's country is never entirely lost, nor is his individual touch or his link with the past, his contact with the present and his hope for the future.

The paintings of The Cangelaris Collection represent a wide range of the Greek contemporary art tendencies. From the abstract to the surrealist and hyper realist, and from the expressionist to the post-modern and the cubist, all trends are represented to these works of art.

Panayotis D. Cangelaris has shown parts of his collection in Greece and abroad:

Part of the Collection has been already displayed at the Panayotis D. Cangelaris permanent or temporary residences in Greece (Psychico, Kastro, Kolonaki and Kifissia) and abroad (Berlin, Geneva, Islamabad and Hannover).  A selection of large size paintings had been shown to the general public, as well, for almost a year and a half (1992-1993) at the Gallery of the Greek Consulate General in Alexandria - Egypt, in the exhibition:  "Contemporary Greek Painting from the Cangelaris Collection".  Another selection of paintings was displayed (2008-2009) at the Psychico Municipal Picture Gallery, in the exhibition:  "Contemporary Greek Painting:  The Cangelaris Collection".

Furthermore, a number of works from the Collection has been given on loan and publicly displayed in:

Retrospective exhibitions of the artists:

Michalis Katzourakis, Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessalonica 2001 and School of Fine Arts, Athens 2002
Alecos Fassianos, National Gallery-Alexandros Soutzos Museum, Athens 2004-2005
Yiannis Valavanidis, Frissiras Museum, Athens 2005
Dimos Skoulakis, Frissiras Museum, Athens 2006
Achilles Droungas, National Gallery-Alexandros Soutzos Museum, Athens 2009

Post-mortem exhibitions:

Constantin Byzantios, Benaki Museum, Athens 2007
Nicos Engonopoulos, Benaki Museum, Athens 2007-2008
Paris Prekas, Benaki Museum, Athens 2012
Dimos Skoulakis, Benaki Museum, Athens 2019

Special group exhibitions:

Yannis Moralis, "Once upon a time there was Painting", New Forms Gallery, Athens 1995
Alkis Pierrakos and Yannis Kourakis, "Landscape Painting in Greece 18th - 20th centuries", B. & M. Theocharakis Foundation for the Fine Arts & Music, Athens 2009
Yiorgos Mavroidis and Marilitsa Vlachaki, "New Forms Gallery 50 years later", Benaki Museum, Athens 2009
Lilika (Papanicolaou-Maris) and Christos Petrides, "Interstellar Art", Eugenides Foundation Planetarium, Athens 2019

Likewise, permission was granted for the use of images of paintings from the Collection for cover pages of books, invitations and programs:

Pavlos Vazakas, Korydallos Municipality Cultural Center "Melina Merkouri", Korydallos 2007, Consultation-Workshop
Yannis Ritsas, Katy Laskaridis Library, Pireaus 2009, Anniversary celebration
Opy Zouni (Sarpaki), Ioannis Kouzas, Athens 2013, Book

The Collection will finally find a permanent home at his ancestral place of origin, the island of Cephalonia.

The paintings of the Collection are also gradually presented through his book (in Greek language) "Reflections upon Greek Contemporary Painting, The Cangelaris Collection" (vol. 1, 1991 and vol. 2, 1999 have been published so far).

To view other publications by Panayotis D. Cangelaris, click here please!

The following artists are represented at The Cangelaris Collection with one or more paintings:

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