Portrait of Minister’s Associate Sparks Debate at National Gallery’s Tetsis Exhibition

Athens, Greece – A portrait of Anna Panagiotarea, an associate of Culture Minister Lina Mendoni, painted by renowned artist Panayiotis Tetsis, has stirred controversy at the National Gallery – Alexandros Soutsos Museum.

The artwork’s inclusion in a major retrospective exhibition was highlighted by Despina Koutsoumba, vice president of the Association of Greek Archaeologists, who shared a photograph of the piece on social media, noting its dedication: “To my friend Anna.”

Koutsoumba criticized the display, writing, “At the National Gallery today, you won’t see works by Katsadiotis, but you can admire Anna Panagiotarea’s portrait by Tetsis.” She questioned whether the exhibition, sourced partly from Panagiotarea’s private collection, would have been incomplete without it, calling on the Gallery to explain its curatorial choices. In another post, she argued that “the use of the National Gallery for personal promotion should concern us all.”

The portrait is part of The Persistence of the Gaze, a temporary exhibition celebrating the 100th anniversary of Tetsis’ birth, which opened on Wednesday and runs through October 31, 2025. Held in the “Antonis E. Komninos Foundation” gallery, the retrospective showcases 160 works—oil paintings, prints, watercolors, and pastels—tracing the artist’s career. Most pieces come from the National Gallery’s collection, acquired through Tetsis’ donations between 1997 and 2015, with 64 others loaned from private and institutional collections.

Curator Efi Agathonikou, the Gallery’s director of Collections, Artistic, and Museological Programming, told journalists during a press tour, “We want visitors to feel this exhibition—to grasp what painting and Tetsis mean, beyond trends or eras.” The display emphasizes Tetsis’ “obsessive” gaze, which transformed subjects like street markets, Hydra landscapes, and everyday objects into vibrant explorations of form and color.

“Tetsis transcends categories created by art historians,” said Syrago Tsiara, the National Gallery’s director. “He saw subjects as opportunities to play with shapes and colors, aligning him with modern artists.” The exhibition organizes works thematically—covering football players, gardens, shipyards, and more—revealing both his well-known series and lesser-seen pieces, accompanied by a bilingual Greek-English catalog.

The inclusion of Panagiotarea’s portrait has fueled debate about favoritism, given her ties to the Culture Ministry, which oversees the Gallery. Critics like Koutsoumba argue it reflects a broader issue of institutional misuse, though the Gallery has not publicly addressed the criticism.

Meanwhile, Tsiara responded to separate questions about artworks by Christophoros Katsadiotis, vandalized by Nikos Papadopoulos, a “Niki” party MP, during an earlier exhibition. She confirmed their reinstallation by early May with improved security and announced a conference with scholars, clergy, and legal experts to discuss artistic freedom and cultural controversies.

As the Tetsis exhibition draws visitors, the controversy over Panagiotarea’s portrait underscores ongoing tensions between art, politics, and public institutions in Greece.