Dimitris Pikionis (1887-1968) is an important figure in 20th century Greek culture. Friend of the painter Giorgio De Chirico, he studied painting and sculpture in Munich and later in Paris, where he encountered modern painting, particularly the work of Cézanne and Paul Klee and the sculpture of Rodin. Returning to his native Greece, he rediscovered his architectural vocation without abandoning painting. At the same time, together with a group of artists, he edited the magazine To Trito Mati (‘The Third Eye’), which introduced Greece to the European avant-garde.

Although he was a contemporary of Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe, his architecture sought to integrate tradition with modern abstraction, proposing a formal synthesis with the desire to attend to the condition of an identitarian culture which he understood as a conciliation bet.

The exhibition focuses on the landscape treatment of the entrances to the Acropolis of Athens, full of pictorial references in the pavements, completed with the architectural works that explain his creative process. Using the title of one of his theoretical writings, we could call it an ‘aesthetic topograph’.

Painting and Thought

This section of the exhibition focuses on the artist’s biography and shows the influence that artists Paul Cézanne, Paul Klee and Giorgio De Chirico, among others, had on Pikionis. In addition, there will be reproductions of various pages of To Trito Mati and a physical copy of the magazine.

Architecture

In the second section, which focuses on Pikionis’s architectural work. Through the documents, it is possible to synthesise his characteristic design method, based on meticulous drawing, analysis of natural elements, and the use of harmonious geometric patterns. The sequence of documents shows how the influence of the modern movement progressively incorporates elements of Greek vernacular architecture until, stripped of formal references, his architecture is understood as landscape.

Model

In the centre of the room, a model of the Acropolis area and Philopappou Hill will be displayed, offering a comprehensive view of Pikionis’s landscape intervention in this location.

The exhibition was first presented at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid (13/02/2025 – 27/04/2025).