The Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation Has Opened a New Contemporary Art Museum in Athens

Athens is now the home to a new museum of Modern and
contemporary art.

After 26 years of planning and six years of construction, the
Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation opens its new public space
this week. Included in its collection are around 180
paintings, sculptures, and artifacts that once belonged to the late
Greek collecting couple, who made their money in the shipping
business.

In 1979, Basil and Elise opened the Museum of Contemporary
Art in Andros (the island of Basil’s birth), which was then the
country’s first institution devoted to the art of the present.

But they always had ambitions to open another institution
located in the center of Athens, which would offer broader
audiences an opportunity to see contemporary art.

Now, 30 years after Basil’s death and 20 years after Elise’s,
their vision has come to fruition.

The new Neo-classical-inspired building that will house their
collection—an 11 story-space, with 5 floors dug below
ground—includes works by European masters such as Paul
Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet and Auguste
Rodin. Among the first works visitors will see in the museum is a
1966 portrait of Elise by Marc Chagall in 1966.

Elsewhere, the museum has all the relevant and standard
institutional amenities, including a museum shop, restaurant,
education spaces, and a library with 4,500 volumes. It also
includes a 190-seat amphitheater, where screenings, concerts, and
other events can take place.

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