REGOS Polykleitos

Greek, 1903-1984
Polykleitos Regos painting

Polykleitos Regos was born on the island of Naxos in 1903.

In 1913 he moved to Thessaloniki with his family.

In 1920 he enrolled at The School of Fine Arts, Athens, where he studied painting under Spyros Vikatos Dimitrios Geraniotis, Georgios Jakobides, Georgios Roilos and Nikolaos Lytras.

In 1926 he visited Mount Athos for the first time. The landscape and art in Athos would influence his later work.

In 1930 he married painter Georgia Mandopoulou and the same year moved to Paris where they lived until 1935. There he attended painting classes at Académie de la Grande Chaumière and Colarossi. He also studied wood engraving with Demetrios Galanis.

In 1933 he returned to Mount Athos and in 1934 in Paris he published: Mont Athos, Gravures sur bois, with wood engravings and a preface by C. Diehl.

In 1935 he returned to Thessaloniki with his family. He painted many subject matters and experimented with many techniques, merging different styles and traditions, as a result he is considered to be the most representative artist of the so-called ‘Thessaloniki School’. Among his most famous paintings are Lavra Monastery (1935-40), Portrait of the Artist’s Wife (1940-44), Greco’s House at Toledo (1951-60), and Grigoriou Monastery on Athos (1971-80).

Polykleitos Regos exhibited his work in numerous group and solo exhibitions in Greece and abroad. His work can be found in: The National Gallery of Greece, The Municipal Gallery Athens, The Municipal Gallery Rhodes, The Leventis Gallery and many other public and private collections.