Over 800 works of art, which constitute the collections of the AG Leventis Foundation, will be on exhibition at the Leventis Art Gallery, in the heart of Nicosia, making the treasures of art and culture that Anastasios Leventis gathered during his life, accessible to the public for the first time.
President of the Republic Nicos Anastasiades and European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth Androulla Vassiliou will be officially opening the Leventis Art Gallery on March 23.
Work to create the gallery began in 2007. The building uses geothermic energy and is thus a model of bioclimatic architecture. It was specially designed for the gallery and covers a total of 4,000 square metres, with simple and clear lines that respect the environment. Its contemporary aesthetics compliment the three collections in the gallery, which hosts unique works of art and antique furniture and porcelain.
All three collections present works of art by masters, including Canaletto, Boucher, Fragonard, Corot, Boudin, Renoir, Monet, Signac, Chagall, Vryzakis, Volanakis, Rallis, Moralis, Tsarouchis, Ghika, Kissonergis, Diamantis and Kanthos, echoing over 400 years of history and art, beckoning the public to discover a world of artistic creation beyond the confines of periods and schools, as this is detected in the broader artistic tradition of Europe.
The Paris Collection is a personal one of Anastasios Leventis and includes works by European masters, from the 17th to the 20th century. It was called so after Leventis` Parisian home, where it remained unseen by the public for over half a century.
The Collection of Works by Greek Artists of the 19th and 20th century began with a collection of works which Leventis bought in 1973 and was later supplemented by the AG Leventis Foundation.
The Cypriot Collection includes works by first generation Cypriot artists from 1900 until the establishment of the Republic of Cyprus, as well as some later works of art, which are however considered to be works by first generation artists. This collection was brought together after the death of Leventis at the initiative of the AG Leventis Foundation.
The Leventis Art Gallery features interactive digital captions and touch screens, allowing visitors, especially young people, to see the yesteryears through their own eyes, in an environment that enhances the creations of the past and brings them in touch with the technology of the future.
Special showcases protect sensitive works from light and reveal them to the visitor through a special construction that was designed in Greece, made in Germany and presented for the first time worldwide at the Leventis Art Gallery.
Furthermore, the sculptured lighting by designer Michael Anastassiades compliments the Louis XVI furniture and Meissen and Sèvres porcelain, which were once part of the elegant apartment of cosmopolitan Anastasios Leventis in the prestigious Avenue Foch residential boulevard in the XVIe arrondissement of Paris.
The overtone of the apartment was the boiserie paneled room, which has been transferred and incorporated into the French Collection of the Leventis Art Gallery. It took nine months for a specialised team of technicians and conservators to imprint, preserve, pack and transport the 17 sculptured wooden sections of the room, which transfers visitors back to Paris of the 1960s, to the apartment with a view of the Eiffel Tower, where Anastasios Leventis lived.
