When Niki Karagatsi was in hospital, Tsarouchis used to paint and send her a rose every morning. Apart from the friendship that bound them, he admired her and considered her the 'Greek equivalent of Vermeer'. Matisse, if he were to have seen her show presently being exhibited next to his in the Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation in Andros, may have made a similar gesture. And may have painted for this sensitive and quiet artist a jasmine 'whiter than white' […]

[…] The exhibitions of Niki Karagatsi and Henri Matisse will continue until the end of September and are worth the effort to feel how the typical Cycladic whitewashed street that runs in front of the entrance to the museum is capable of setting off Matisse's work and perhaps vice versa. […]

It is particularly constructive and important for one to be able to visit Andros during the summer months, to see exhibitions of calibre and with international appeal such as the exhibition of paper 'cut-outs', water-colours, drawings, engravings and illustrated books of the great French painter, Matisse (1869-1954) which was organised in Andros this year. […] Knowing how difficult it is in our times to organise such exhibitions of works coming from various collections and for which the demands in terms of insurance are great, we are obliged to acknowledge the enormous contribution of the Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation. […]

[…] In Andros these days we are invited to ponder upon, through the difficult work of Matisse, how art is no longer self-evident and how remarks about art are no longer obvious. Because, what is exhibited in Andros is virtually a palimpsest 'text'. We must go to Andros not to 'see', but to 'read' Matisse, just as Matisse 'read' Mallarme, illustrating his verse. […] Finally, we must go to Andros for the eye-opening experience which we are in need of, to clear our eyes of the dust from our political and cultural atmosphere […] to see a different kind of 'writing', as in the illustrated book that Matisse called 'Jazz' in 1947. […]

Andros has been experiencing a continuous cultural explosion over the last few years. This year Matisse, last year Picasso, next year another prominent artist. Next to them our own Ghikas, Parthenis, Mytaras, Fassianos, Gaitis, Bouzianis, Gounaropoulos and so many more, with Michael Tombros, son of Andros, whose work nowadays has been brought together almost entirely on the island. […]

[…] Matisse, in the light of Greece, is already like a return to the source; to follow his black lines on the striking whiteness of the paper is like seeing the virtual or real rapport that he has with colour. […] Around forty drawings and as many prints, in addition to the sumptuous books, re-establish for us the trajectory of his line, drawn or incised, which take woman or the world as motifs of a fundamental drawing. […]