City of Athens inagurates, through OPANDA, the renovated basement of the Museum of Folk Art and Tradition “Angeliki Hatzimichali,” which will begin operating as an exhibition space, hosting the exhibition “Let’s go like we used to…” from February 1 to April 19, 2026, from the collection of Christos and Polly Kolliali.

The renovation of the basement of the Hatzimichalis mansion was funded by a donation from Mrs. Aik. Papadaki in memory of her daughter, a collector of folk art objects, giving new life to the space and new possibilities to the Museum.

Almost a century after the first exhibition of Nikos Velmos’ “Anentachta” in 1928, in a basement on Nikodimou Street in Plaka, the Museum of Folk Art and Tradition “Angeliki Hatzimichali” symbolically returns to its own basement space, honoring two naïve painters, Ersi-Alexia Hatzimichali (1918-2001) and Giorgos Savvakis (1924–2004).

The selection of works by Hatzimichali and Savvakis is neither random nor exhaustive. The works presented do not seek to summarize their entire oeuvre, but rather function as fragments of lived life, as images that converse with the space, time, and collective memory of Plaka.

Their combination clearly evokes nostalgia for Old Athens, and the timing of the exhibition is no coincidence, as it coincides with Sunday, which marks the beginning of Lent, the start of the carnival season, during which the Plaka district was and continues to be the prime location for carnival events.

Ersi-Alexia Hatzimichali, daughter of the great folklorist Angeliki Hatzimichali, was born and lived in Plaka until her death in 2001. She grew up in an environment influenced by Greek folk art, tradition, and history, pursuing a career as a tour guide, but she had also taken courses in ceramics in England and philosophy in Athens.

ANCIENT CITY

She began painting around the age of forty, with the freedom of someone who paints first to remember and then to share. Her first exhibition, in 1962, was hosted in a small gallery in Plaka. Her work is exuberant with intense colors, mainly blue, which she combines with simple lines and dreamlike forms. Ersi Hatzimichali is included in the naive art catalogue of the French dictionary E. Benezit, while her works can be found in galleries in England, the USA and France.

Giorgos Savvakis was born during the interwar period in the Psyrri neighborhood but lived in Plaka, a place that had a decisive influence on his work and vision. He was one of the most important naive painters who sensitively recorded life in its neighborhoods, and even as a student he drew scenes from everyday life in old Athens, recording the life of the streets and the small moments of the city with disarming immediacy.

Savakis’ painting, deeply naive but substantial, captures the pulse of the neighborhood, professions, and human figures, without strict linear outlines, simple and direct. People who seem to still inhabit the streets of the city like living memories of an Athens that breathes through his work.

His painting career began in 1956, on the walls of the “Vakhos” tavern in Plaka, followed by more than forty taverns, where his art meets the folk space and collective experience. In 1973, he moved on to canvas, developing a visual language inspired by Athens and its landmarks, charged with intense historical and cultural symbolism.

In 1980, he held his first solo exhibition in Athens. Numerous solo and group exhibitions followed in Greece and abroad, where his work was recognized and honored with awards and praise, and his works can be found in many European galleries and private collections.

The exhibition “Pame san allote…” is being held in collaboration with collectors Christos and Polly Kolliali and the Museum Collection. Both speak in the present tense about Ersi – Alexas Hatzimichalis and Giorgos Savvakis, pointing out that the works of naïve painters should be promoted because they are works that invite us to see life as it used to be… more beautiful, clearer, truer, and unmediated.

Curated by: Stavroula Pisimisi, folklorist, director of the Angeliki Hatzimichali Museum of Folk Art and Tradition, Municipality of Athens

Information:
Duration: 01 February- 19 April 2026
Free Admission

Museum of Folk Art and Tradition “Angeliki Hatzimichali” of the City of Athens: Angeliki Hatzimichali 6, Plaka, tel. 210 3243987
Opening hours: Tuesday – Friday 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., Saturday & Sunday 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m., closed on Mondays