Special Information for the Artist
Periklis Pantazis was born in Athens, in 1849 and died in Brussels, in 1884. He was one of the first Greek impressionists painters that recognized mainly in Belgium.
His father was a teacher with filiation from Epirus. From 1861 to 1871 he studied painting at the School of Fine Arts, under Nikiforos Lytras. For one year, he continued his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, but then he left for Marseilles and Paris. In Paris, he studied under Gustave Courbet and Antoine Chintreuil, while he knew the modern creations of Eugène Boudin, of Johan Barthold Jongkind and of the impressionists Manet, Degas and Pissarro.
In 1873, with a Manet's reference letter in his pocket, Pantazis moved to Brussels. It is also said that, he moved to the Belgian capital at the invitation of wealthy Greeks vintner Ioannis Oikonomou, who also commissioned many new works in her paintings. In Belgium, Pantazis joined the artistic antiacademic group «Circle de la pâte» and became friends with the painter Guillaume Vogels and the sculptor Auguste Philippette, whose sister married shortly after.
In Brussels, Pantazis earned his living working with Vogel in houses' decoration, an art that was in fashion at that time. But it quickly became known for his painting talent and so he left his decoration to devote himself exclusively to painting.
In 1878, he represented with his works Greece in the International Exhibition of Paris and received excellent reviews. Unfortunately, for many years suffered from tuberculosis and died sooner turns 35 years old.
