Many Greek artists, especially painters, found inspiration in water due to Greece being a Mediterranean country where water played an important role in shaping civilizations. Several major Greek painters inspired by water and the Aegean Sea are mentioned, including Ioannis Altamouras, Nikiphoros Lytras, Konstantinos Volanakis, Panayiotis Tetsis, Kostas Grammatopoulos, and Pavlos Moschakis. Brief biographies and backgrounds are provided for each painter.

1. Water and Greek painters
6b class
2nd
Primary School of Pefka
2012
Teacher: Elsa Lymberi

2. Water is not only a source of life, but a source of inspiration for
many Greek artists, particularly painters. Besides, our country is a
Mediterranean country, where water has played an important role
in shaping civilizations.
• Major Greek painters who were inspired by water
and especially by the Aegean Sea are: Lytras,
Altamouras, Volanakis, Tetsis, Grammatopoulos,
Moschakis.

3. Ioannis Altamouras
His life and work

4. • He continued his studies in Copenhagen.
• In 1875, and while he was still in Copenhagen, he sent to the artistic competition
of Olympion in Athens his painting “The port of Copenhagen” and he won the
second award.
From an early age, he exhibited his artistic skills in painting. He was
accepted to the Athens School of Fine Arts where he studied painting
along with Nikiphoros Lytras during the years 1871–1872.

5. His work
His seascape-paintings are
considered equal to the
works of another great
Greek painter of seascapes
of the 19th
century,
Konstantinos Volanakis.
In 1878, the year of his
death, two of his works ,
“The destruction of the
Ottoman flagship by
Papanikolis in Eressos” and
“The naval battle of Captain
Miaoulis against two
Ottoman flagships at the
entrance of Patra”, were
presented at the
International exhibition of
Paris.

6. Altamoura’s paintings

7. Nikiphoros Lytras
• He was one of the greatest Greek painters and
teachers of painting in the 19th century. He is
considered one of the most important
representatives of the School of Arts of Munich
and a pioneer in shaping the teaching of Fine Arts
in Greece. His hugely important art covers the first
three quarters of the century of Greek revival.

8. His paintings
• In his rich and endless work, from his first drawings until his
last painting, one can see a constant evolution.
• He also focused in “History painting” with subjects inspired by
Greek Mythology and Greek History.

9. Awards
• In 1903 he was decorated with the Golden Cross of
Savour. In 1909 —after his death— some of his
paintings were presented in Piloty’s School (1885-
1886) in Munich.
• In 1933 an exhibition with Lytra’s 186 paintings
was presented in Athens School of Fine Arts. The
Hellenic Post honoured him by issuing a postage
stamp.

10. Konstantinos Volanakis
He was from Volani, a small village in the area of
Rethymnon, Crete.

11. His studies
• He studied at the
Gymnasium of
Syros. He graduated
in 1856.
• He continued his
studies at the
Munich Academy.
He worked in
Munich, Vienna and
Trieste.
• In 1833 he moved
back to Greece.
From that year until
1903 he taught at
the School of Fine
Arts.

12. The sea, ships and ports were the constant source of inpiration for Volanakis.
Along with Theodore Vryzakis, Nikiforos Lytras, Nikolaos Gizis and George
Iacovidis, he is considered one of the leading representatives of academic
realism, the so-called "Munich School". However, many of his bright works -
such as “The famous Feast of Munich” - show some impressionistic trends.

13. The life of KostasThe life of Kostas
GrammatopoulosGrammatopoulos
Kostas Grammatopoulos was a Greek
painter and engraver ( 1916 -2003).
He studied at the School of Fine Arts under
Yannis Kefallinos.
Later he was elected Professor of engraving
at the same school.
Although he is not widely known, he is the
one who created many posters for the
war of 1940. He also illustrated the Greek
Alphabet book of 1955 and the emblem
of Hellenic Republic after 1974.

14. Panayiotis Tetsis
The artistic process of the renowned painter
• In 1940 he took his first painting lessons from the German
painter and engraver K. Frislanter, but his meeting with D.
Pikioni and N. Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas, whom he considers as his
real teachers, played a crucial role to his route.
• He studied at the School of Fine Arts under K.Partheni and
continued his studies as a free student at Ecole des Beaux-
Arts of Paris(1953-1956) , where he studied engraving taught
by E. J. Goerg.

15. In 1960 a three months’ honorary fellowship of the Italian
government gave him the opportunity to study art in the
Italian museums, and in 1972 a grant from the Ford
Foundation enabled him to devote himself to painting.

16. Pavlos Moschakis
Biography
Pavlos Moschakis was born in Istanbul in
1915. In 1964 he had to live his city and
migrate to Greece. Since then he has been
living in Athens.

17. He is a genuine self-
taught artist who, in his
paintings, demonstrates
with sensitivity and love
the quite harmonic and
multicultural life in
Istanbul and emphasizes
the good memories he
has about Turks and
Turkey.
He was honoured by the Turkish daily
newspaper “Cumhuriyet” for the valuable
contribution of his paintings to the tribute
for Istanbul, with the title “The City of the
twentieth century”, with rare issues from
the bridges of the City!
He has participated in many group and
solo exhibitions since 1975. His works are
in many private collections in Europe as
well as the Municipality of Istanbul.

18. • Pavlos Moschakis is 97 years old and he lives in a nursing
home in Athens, called “The House of People from
Constantinople”.
• Unfortunately, he does not have any pension or health care.
His only income are the paintings he still makes.

19. His paintings