Spiros George Xenos (11 June 1881 – 21 January 1963) was a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

artist. Xenos was born in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. After six years of study at

Athens School of Fine Arts The Athens School of Fine Arts (ASFA; el, Ανωτάτη Σχολή Καλών Τεχνών, ΑΣΚΤ, literally: Highest School of Fine Arts), is Greece's premier Art school whose main objective is to develop the artistic talents of its students. ...

, he left Greece in 1903 and helped by a scholarship continued his education in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, Germany. In Paris he opened a studio and established himself in artist circles. Here he also met his first wife, Gothenburg-born Elin von Reis (1874-1926) whom he married 1911. In 1913, the couple went to Sweden for a short stay, but due to the outbreak of World War come to settle there. Xenos's paintings were inspired by the landscape of Sweden's west coast, but he is also known for his

portrait A portrait is a portrait painting, painting, portrait photography, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, Personality type ...

s and

still life A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, m ...

s. The book "Partille Krönika" (Partille Chronicle) by Erik Bergendahl, published in 1920 and reprinted in 1980, tells of (p. 305) the young painter's fascination with the Swedish landscape and his desire to depict this to his countrymen with exhibitions in Greece. His work is exhibited at 'Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg', at 'the University of Gothenburg (School of Business, Economics and Law)' and in ' National Gallery and Alexandros Soutzos Museum' (Athens Art Museum). In 1920, in Utby, Gothenburg he built the 'Villa Athena', which still stands in 'Utbynäs´ villastad' (''created in the style of an English garden city''). Spiros Xeros is buried in 'Örgryte new cemetery' in Gothenburg with his second wife Ester Elena (Håkansson) Xenos (1903–1996), born in

Helsingborg Helsingborg (, , , ) is a city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and ninth-largest in Sweden, with a population of 113,816 (2020). Helsingborg is the cent ...

, Sweden. Xenos died in

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, aged 81. In a local newspaper an obituary mentioned "''the well-known Gothenburg artist''" Spiros Xenos and described him as "''an extremely amiable person, free from harsh judgments and a wish to gain advances at others' expense''".

External links

* Swedish artists Greek emigrants to Sweden Greek artists 1881 births 1963 deaths Artists from Athens {{Sweden-artist-stub