The Cultural Centre “Hellenic Cosmos” presents the painting exhibition “Vlasis Frissiras – Double Portrait: The Collector, the Painter”, opening on 28 September 2026. The exhibition explores every facet of the lifelong relationship that Vlasis Frissiras, one of Greece’s most distinguished art collectors, has developed with the art of painting.
The exhibition is organized into two distinct sections. The first and larger section presents selected representative works from the Frissiras Collection. It features works by approximately seventy contemporary painters from Eastern and Western Europe, as well as China, Mexico, India, and Iran. Frissiras personally met most of these artists during visits to their studios and developed a deep appreciation for their work.
Through these works, the human figure and the many traces of the human condition within society, the existential dimension of life, and the individual who desires, suffers, struggles, dreams, and hopes are transformed into powerful pictorial statements, bearing witness to the enduring strength of art. This section highlights Frissiras’ unwavering commitment to collecting and promoting contemporary figurative, human-centred painting, as well as his profound belief in its aesthetic value, social significance, and timeless relevance.
The second section of the exhibition presents works created by Vlasis Frissiras himself, painted from the period of the pandemic to the present day. This is a deeply personal and reflective body of work. By fulfilling his youthful desire to paint, Frissiras initially used painting as a means of resisting isolation, confronting existential questions, and overcoming the sense of suspended time. It soon evolved into a disciplined process of introspection, memory, and free personal expression.
The “Double Portrait” stands as the dual testimony of a collector’s vision and a painter’s gaze. It reveals a man devoted, heart and soul, to the art of painting, inviting visitors to experience it as a continuous artistic journey of discovery, learning, and profound contemplation.
