Toulouse Lautrec

The Evagoras and Kathleen Lanitis Foundation presents the unique exhibition «TOULOUSE-LAUTREC AND THE BELLE EPOQUE IN PARIS AND ATHENS», in collaboration with the Museum Herakleidon. The exhibition is under the auspices of the Embassy of France.

At the center of this exhibition is a rare collection of approximately 130 original works on paper by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, which the organizers have placed in the historical, social, artistic, and aesthetic context of the time (1800 to the beginning of the 20th century). Furthermore, there has been an effort to approximate the prevailing historical and artistic conditions of urban Athens of the same era, with the goal of revealing the influence of the French Belle Epoque on the social and artistic life of Athens and to establish a number of obvious parallels.

The original works of Lautrec that are being exhibited (publicity posters, prints, and drawings) draw their inspiration from everyday life and entertainment. Advertisements for cabarets and periodicals, which are some of the best-known images of the great French artist, are shown next to portraits of famous actors and singers of the time, as well as sketches and caricatures. The works of Lautrec are accompanied by appropriate passages from French literature, photographs, and other objects, in order to help the viewer better understand the atmosphere of that time.

The condensed attempt to reach a correspondence between the Paris and Athens Belle Époque has been invoked enhanced by records material derived from the Benaki Museum photography archive as well as the personal collections of Mr. Petros Vergos’ and Mr. Giannis Spandonis. The bourgeois habits and entertainment modes of the 19th century last twenty years in Athens are reformed through original designs – caricatures by D. Galani, presenting, therefore, with some humour, the Greek politicians and scholars, foreign diplomats, bourgeois people, elegant ladies of that time, bourgeoisie family photos, postal cards and plenty of theatre programs, inviting the visitor to go deeper into that enchanting flagrance of that time.
The inauguration will be celebrated by his Honourable the Minister of Education and Culture, Mr Andreas Demetriou and his Excellency the Ambassador of France Mr Jean – Marc Rives, on Friday, February 19th , 2010, at 20.00, at Evagoras Lanitis Center, Lanitis Carob mill, Limassol.

Opening Hours
Daily except Monday: 09.00 – 13.00 & 17.00 – 21.00
Saturday and Sunday: 16.00 - 21.00