Contemporary Art Museum of Crete
Department: Parallel Actions

Exhibition at the Benaki Museum, entitled:
Demosthenis Skoulakis. An artist of contradictions


The Benaki Museum organized a retrospective exhibition dedicated to the 50 years’ creation of the famous Greek painter Demosthenis (Dimos) Skoulakis (1957-2009), including representative samples from the wide range of his career in art.

The exhibition was designed with the primary purpose of highlighting the artist’s historical and artistic path from 1957 to 2009, and it was held courtesy of museums, institutions, art galleries, individuals and collectors. About 100 works were exhibited, starting from his early period in 1957, his political painting (1960-1967), his self-exile in Europe, America, Canada (1967-1972) as well as the period of his main volume of work in Greece (1981-2009). References were also made to the surreal period (1980-1984) and the re-registrations (1997-2009). Along with the structured presentation of his painting work, part of the artist’s parallel work was exhibited, as he was also a cartoonist and illustrator in Greek and international publications for more than 30 years.

At the same time, the retrospective presentation aimed to give the Greek public the opportunity to get in touch with great works of art.

The exhibition was curated by Art Historian Eleni Athanasiou. The architectural design was by Natalia Boura.

In the attempt to present a complete image of the painter’s work, Contemporary Art Museum of Crete was also invited to participate in the exhibition, and the Museum lent three works by Demosthenis Skoulakis.

The exhibition ran from 27th February to 5th May 2019 in the exhibition halls of the Benaki Museum at 138, Pireos street.