Περιγραφή
Sofia Laskaridou (Greek, 1876-1965)
Portrait of Periklis Giannopoulos (presumably), oil on canvas, 60 x 44 cm. Frame: 68 x 51 cm.
Signed lower left S. Lascaridi.
Notes
Sofia Laskaridou and Periklis Giannopoulos: Their encounter in fin-de-siècle Athens became one of the most poignant love stories in modern Greek art. Sofia Laskaridou, the first Greek woman to pursue academic art studies abroad, met Periklis Giannopoulos, an ardent essayist who equated beauty with truth and death. Between them unfolded a union of intellect and emotion, yet also of contradiction: her desire for artistic freedom clashed with his ideal of total devotion. His theatrical suicide by the sea in 1910 transformed their story into a symbol of passion and loss within Greek modernism.
Sources: Benaki Museum Archives; Elias Kolokouris, HARTIS (2022); National Gallery of Greece Biographical Notes; Athens Review of Books; Laskaridou, Memoirs.