(b Athens, 21 Oct 1910; d Athens, 31 Oct 1985). Greek painter, stage designer and poet. He spent his school years in Constantinople (now Istanbul) and Paris. Between 1932 and 1938 he studied at the Higher School of Fine Arts in Athens under Konstantinos Parthenis and Yannis Kefallinos (1893–1957). At the same time he worked with Fotis Kontoglou. The publication in 1938 of his first collection of surrealistic poems, and the first exhibition of his paintings the following year, were enthusiastically received by the most authoritative members of the Greek literary and artistic avant-garde, such as Andreas Embirikos (1901–75) and Odysseas Elytis (b 1911). From 1941 to 1972 he held the post of professor of painting at the School of Architecture of the National Technical University of Athens. He was one of the first exponents of Surrealism in Greece, combining the universal principles of the movement with the Greek artistic and cultural tradition. Deeply influenced by de Chirico’s metaphysical painting, he attempted to create an imagery of unexpected combinations, based upon poetic imagination and colour. His paintings are characterized by the presence of mannequins placed in Neo-classical houses overlooking the Parthenon or within strange Greek interiors. The female figure is almost always present in his works, as in The Poet and his Muse (1938; see Papastamos, p. 221). He published nine collections of poems between 1938 and 1984. He lectured on architecture, illustrated books and designed sets and costumes for the Greek National Theatre, for example for Sophocles’ Electra in 1939. He also worked as a painter of icons and executed frescoes for the church of St Spyridion, New York.

• Engonopoulos, Nikos
  • Greece, §III: Painting