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 artist. Xenos was born in

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

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 wit ...

. 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 student ...

, 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 German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

, 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 painting, 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, and even the mood of the person. For this ...

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 A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edit ...

, Sweden. Xenos died in Gothenburg, Sweden, 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