The Basil & Elise Goulandris Foundation is a non-profit organization founded in 1979. Its main purpose is the operation of its two museums, on the island of Andros and in Athens and the promotion of visual arts on a domestic and international level.

Its founders and inspirers were Basil and Elise Goulandris who were passionate about art. Painting was the main focus of their interest which connected them to the artistic circles of post-war Paris; they also promoted young Greek artists, helping them to evolve their art and expand their artistic horizons.

Its Collection is one of the most important private collections created during the second half of the 20th century. The main purpose of the B&E Goulandris Foundation in Athens is to house this collection and make it accessible to the public, in accordance with the wish of its founders. As is the case with most private collections, the selection criteria for the works which are included in it were purely subjective. Basil and Elise Goulandris, chose these specific works guided only by their personal preferences and aesthetic codes. Their wish was the creation of a museum in Athens, which would provide the opportunity for a broader audience to come into contact and become familiar with the art they so loved. They envisaged a lively cultural organization, on a par with internationally acclaimed institutions in the field of the visual arts.

The Basil & Elise Goulandris Foundation which is in the centre of Athens and houses the Collection of the Foundation, also hosts temporary exhibitions, educational programs and cultural events using advanced museological applications within the broad spectrum of modern and contemporary art.

Basil Goulandris was born on Andros on 6 September 1913. He was a descendent of the Goulandris shipping family from Andros, the son of Petros I. Goulandris and Chrysi Dampasi.

Following tertiary education in Greece, he studied Law in Switzerland and, in the late 1940s, settled in New York where he undertook to running of the family’s shipping businesses. For a number of years he served as Honourary President of the Union of Greek Ship-owners and member of the Board of Directors of the American Bureau of Shipping.

Apart from a successful shipping businessman he was, alongside his wife Elise, a lover of the arts, particularly the fine arts. Together they visited museums and exhibitions, sponsored cultural events and supported a number on mainly young artists at the start of their career. He developed particular bonds with business and cultural circles contributing to the development of cross-cultural relations and exchanges between Greece and France.

In 1981 he was honoured by the French State with the title of Knight of the Legion of Honour (Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur) and in 1986 with the title of Officer of the Legion of Honour (Officier de la Légion d’Honneur), while in 1983, the French Ministry of Culture awarded him the medal of Commander of the Order of the Arts and Letters (Commandeur de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres). In Greece he was awarded the Cross of the Commander of the Order of George I in 1956, the Silver Medal of the Academy of Athens in 1981 and the distinction of Archon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 1992.

Elise Goulandris, nee Karadontis, was born in Athens in 1917. She was the fourth of the six children of Petros and Evanthia Karadontis, who came from Kynouria in Arcadia.

Elise, endowed with beauty and intelligence, and charmed by Art from a young age, from an early age expressed her desire to surpass the narrow expectations that middle class families of her time had for their daughters. Having completed her tertiary education in Greece she travelled to the United States to continue her studies.

In the late 1940s she met Basil Goulandris, also an art lover, by whom she was charmed, finding in him not only an ideal partner but also an intellectual guide in her initiation into the fine arts. In America, where they lived for many years, they developed their social and cultural activities, which they continued later once they settled in Paris and Switzerland in 1956.

In recognition of her contribution to French-Greece friendship, the French State awarded her the highest distinction of Commander of the Order of the Arts and Letters while in 1981 she was awarded the Silver Medal by the Academy of Athens.

The Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation was established in 1979. It is a non-profit organisation whose main purpose is the operation of the museums on Andros and now in Athens, as well as the promotion of the visual Arts at national and international level.

Inspirers and sponsors of this effort were the late Basil and Elise Goulandris, who were known for their passionate love of the arts. They envisioned a lively cultural organisation, on a par with internationally acclaimed establishments in the field of the visual arts.
Through the Foundation that bears their name, they bequeathed three innovative museum spaces to Andros, Basil’s birthplace; the Museum of Contemporary Art (in 1979), which exhibits works by Greek and foreign artists, the Archaeological Museum (in 1981), whose construction they funded as a bequest to the Greek state, and the New Wing of the Museum of Contemporary Art, where international exhibitions by renowned artists have been taking place every summer since 1986.

Their vision included the creation of another museum in Athens, in order to provide the opportunity for a wider audience to come into contact and become familiar with the Art they so loved. They both passed away, Basil Goulandris on 27 April 1994 and Elise on 25 July 2000, without unfortunately having seen their vision realised. However, they generously bequeathed all the means for their vision to, one day, come alive. The Athens museum is now complete, 25 years after the death of Basil and 19 years after the death of Elise Goulandris, heralding the beginning of a new chapter for the Foundation, whose aim is, in parallel to the Museum on Andros, to promote this new hub into a vehicle for the development of innovative cultural activities by exploiting contemporary museum applications in the field of modern and contemporary Greek and international art.

ADMINISTRATION

Dr. Kyriakos Koutsomallis
General Director

Viviane Koutsomallis-Kaniaris
Head of Administration
Legal Department

Kelly Skaftourou
Financial Service, Head

Konstantinos Gordios
Financial Service, Officer

COLLECTION & CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT

Marie Koutsomallis-Moreau
Head

Filippia Cheilitsi
Librarian

Leonidas Issaris
Kyriakos Bakalis
Artworks’ Storage Facilities - Conservation

EDUCATION & LEARNING

Katerina Georgopoulou
Head

Ioulia Marousi
Ioanna Koutsouki
Creative Workshops - School Visits

Mariana Bairaktari
Maria Charami
Athina Giannoukaki
Myrto Kapnisti
Trainees

COMMUNICATIONS & OUTREACH

Katerina Voussoura
Head

Yannis-Paris Ketipidis
Digital Media Coordinator

Panagiotis Tsironis
Graphic Designer

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Katerina Markadaki
Head

Harry Masouras
Rentals Management

Dimitris Feidanoglou
Trainee

SHOPS - E-SHOP

Gina Marnelakis
Vassa Polena
Heads

Leonidas Issaris
E-shop Coordinator

Georgia Fraggista
Athens’ Shop

VISITORS EXPERIENCE

Maria Chatzimanolidaki
Head

Konstantinos Kormas
Guided Tours Management

Christoforos Botsis
Pavlos Gkougiannos
Michalis Klaoudatos
Dimitra Lianou
Anita Liatsi
Visitors Experience Staff

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Yannis-Dimitris Prokopis
Head

John Stavrakas
Officer

TECHNICAL DEPARTMENT

Kyriakos Bakalis
Head

Vladimir Madan
Electrician

Lefteris Malamos
Assistant

Giannis Oshafi
General Duties

SECURITY

Sotiris Piperas
Head

Maria Vassileiou
Chryssa Georgala
Haris Kapsalis
Michalis Palaiologos
Dimitris Papakostopoulos
Antonis Paspaliaris
Nikolaos Roussos
Guards

MAINTENANCE & CLEANING

Marinos Lousides
Head

Violetta Oshafi
Coordinator

Alma Agoli
Marioga Gianissi
Riki Pangkilinan
Cleaning

MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, ANDROS

Michael Salonikis
Visitors Experience

Anna Sideris
Cleaning