Alekos Fassianos, one of the most important modern Greek painters, whose work drew on mythology and folklore, has passed away. Compared with Matisse, but more commonly with Picasso, his themes consisted of man, nature and the environment. An artist who had touched the lives of many, he passed away on Sunday at his home in Athens after a long illness. He was 86 years old.
Born in the Greek capital on Dec. 16, 1935, he studied violin at the Athens Conservatory and painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts from 1955 to 1960.
Shortly after his first exhibition in the early 1960s, he went to Paris on a French state scholarship to study lithography at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.
Described by many as the Picasso of Greece, Fassianos was widely lauded and many of his works adorn public spaces, including a mural at the Metaxourgeio subway station in central Athens.
Others compared him to Matisse, though he resisted both comparisons, insisting he had drawn on many different influences.
Although some of his paintings, especially the early ones, were in a contemporary style, he mostly drew inspiration from Greek popular art and Ancient Greek mythology. He was also inspired by Byzantine themes, although his colourful paintings have little to do with Byzantine austerity.
“Color should always have meaning,” he would recall in interviews.
Besides painting and lithography, he also illustrated books, designed theatre costumes and settings and dabbled in sculpture.
In France, he was made a commander of the Order of Arts and Letters and an officer of the Legion of Honor. He exhibited widely in Europe and Latin America.
Since his first Athens exhibition in 1959, he has had more than 70 personal exhibitions in Paris, Athens, Thessaloniki, Milan, New York, London, Tokyo, Beirut, Hamburg, and Munich to name a few. He was invited to produce stamps and posters for the Athens 2004 Olympics.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Fassianos “always balanced between realism and abstraction” and he “leaves us a precious heritage.”
An Athens museum devoted to his work will open in the Autumn of 2022 and display some of the works that currently adorn his home. Examples of his work can be found in the Museum of Modern Art in Paris and in the Pinacotheque in Athens.
“All the work of Fassianos, the colours that filled his canvases, the multidimensional forms that dominated his paintings, exude Greece,” said Culture Minister Lina Mendoni.
