From Alexander The Great To The Present Day: Inside The Art Collections Of Hotel Grande Bretagne And King George
The two Athens hotels bring together historic 18th-century pieces, works by leading Greek painters and newly commissioned contemporary art across their public spaces and suites
Hotel Grande Bretagne and King George, the landmark hotels in the heart of Athens, have developed distinctive art collections displayed throughout their public spaces and guest rooms. Across both properties, historic 18th-century pieces, canvases by leading 19th- and 20th-century Greek painters and newly commissioned contemporary works are installed in the lobbies, suites, reception areas and other guest areas.
The collections are curated under the guidance of art historian and art advisor Maria Migadi, together with the hotels’ ownership, Lampsa Hellenic Hotels S.A., with the aim of introducing international guests to significant works of modern Greek art.
HOTEL GRANDE BRETAGNE
At Hotel Grande Bretagne, an 18th-century wall hanging inspired by the campaigns of Alexander the Great is displayed above Alexander’s Bar, and an interpretation of the abduction of Persephone hangs in the lobby. Both are historic but anonymous works that, together with the seascapes throughout the public spaces and the carved marble portraits of the hotel’s founders and former owners, form part of the building’s identity.
Over the years, works shown in the hotel’s suites have included The Walk of the Caryatid by Konstantinos Parthenis and The New Arrival by Nikolaos Gyzis. In the Presidential and Royal Suites, the parquetry, furniture, objects and paintings together evoke the urban character of 19th- and 20th-century Athens. Some works are by unknown artists; others are significant to modern Greek art, among them Apostolos Geralis’s Woman in Traditional Costume, an oil on canvas depicting a female figure in regional dress that reflects the artist’s engagement with Greek folk tradition.
The Presidential Suite is also home to Yannis Moralis’s Portrait of a Greek Officer, an oil painting showing an officer in full uniform. Moralis is usually known for a stripped-back style that turns the human figure into simple, geometric shapes, but this is a realistic, detailed portrait. More works can be found at the GB Roof Garden, including ceramics by Elina Vasilaki and abstract oil paintings by Sofia Petropoulou.
Hotel Grande Bretagne
KING GEORGE
At King George, the reception area features Moralis’s Composition (1961), a roughly 2-meter work that shows how his style changed over the years, moving from realistic figures to geometric shapes while keeping the human figure at the centre. Near the entrance, Spyros Vassiliou’s Little Shop on Athinas Street shows an older Athens, when even main streets felt like neighbourhoods and small shopkeepers displayed their goods out in the open.
The lobby collection mixes older works with new ones, where plaster wall piece by Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika, a well-known Greek artist, is shown next to newer works such as Tina Karageorgi’s stoneware vases, following the brief the architects set when the lobby was renovated: works in a modern style but made from traditional materials.
Several of the commissioned works fit this idea as well. Peggy Kliafa’s Omphalio copies the pattern of a Byzantine mosaic floor but uses painkillers and antibiotic pills of different colours and shapes instead of the original glass tiles, while Iliodora Margellou’s Hope is a colourful embroidery with lines that look like code, and the hand-painted plates by Philippos Theodorides use traditional patterns in a similar way. All were made with the art consultancy Art Projects, founded by Maria Migadi, Anastasia Orfanidou and Victoria Fassianou.
The atrium has a 21-metre glass installation by Lasvit, made of Bohemian glass and shaped like a chandelier, which can be seen from Tudor Hall and from many of the rooms. Near the entrance, Zetta Antsakli’s Hellas is a Greek flag made from strips of aluminium; up close, the blue bands are prints of Greek seascapes.
