Benaki Museum: New Exhibitions of 2026 from January to February -

Discover the Benaki Museum’s new exhibitions for January–February 2026, from contemporary fashion and major retrospectives to a landmark historical anniversary show.

From pioneering fashion rooted in Greek threadwork to landmark retrospectives and powerful historical commemorations, the Benaki Museum opens 2026 with a rich exhibition program that bridges tradition and innovation, art and memory, offering fresh perspectives on Greek and international cultural heritage.

Denise Eleftheriou. Garment of Threads

Benaki Museum / N.I.M.A.
Opening: Thursday, January 22, 2026, 19:00
Duration: January 23 – March 28, 2026

Designer Denise Eleftheriou, exploring the world of Mentis–Antonopoulos Threadworks (N.I.M.A.), set out to highlight its exquisite products cords, braids, and trimmings by giving them a leading role. While traditionally used as decorative elements of garments, from Greek folk tradition to contemporary fashion, Eleftheriou employs N.I.M.A.’s materials as raw matter for creating surfaces and volumes that form contemporary garments.

The possibilities of thread are endless: from the composition of exceptional cords and the weaving of braids, to unique dyeing techniques rarely found elsewhere. With these tools as her primary material, Denise Eleftheriou seeks to transcend stereotypical approaches to tradition and offer a new, contemporary, and at the same time pioneering perspective on N.I.M.A.’s materials.

Her approach is grounded in experimentation with the lines, volumes, and proportions of Haute Couture, which globally has moved away from its classical definition and now approaches the boundaries of sculpture.

Greece’s rich tradition constitutes for the designer both a magical source of inspiration and a solid foundation for designing the future.

Alexis Akrithakis. A Line Like a Wave

Benaki Museum
Opening: Wednesday, February 11, 2026, 20:00
Exhibition dates: February 12 – May 24, 2026

From Alexis Akrithakis’ early psychedelic images capturing the spirit of the 1960s, to the emblematic Suitcase of the 1970s, the light installations that deconstruct painting into materials, atmospheres, and intentions, the expressionist landscapes and penetrating portraits, all the way to his harrowing final works depicting the madmen and inmates of the Dromokaiteio Psychiatric Hospital, the exhibition Alexis Akrithakis. A Line Like a Wave reveals the sensitivity of a multifaceted artist and brings to light aspects of his creativity that have remained unknown until today.

**Alexis Akrithakis**, *Untitled*, 1970, 45 × 71 cm, oil on canvas © The Estate of Alexis Akrithakis

Curated by Chloe Akrithakis and Alexios Papazacharias, Alexis Akrithakis. A Line Like a Wave is the first major retrospective of the important Greek artist in Greece in the past 30 years. Among other highlights, it presents for the first time to the public significant works from private and public collections, showcasing the breadth of one of the most recognizable and idiosyncratic figures of modern Greek art.

**Alexis Akrithakis**, *Untitled*, 1970, 71 × 45 cm, oil on canvas © The Estate of Alexis Akrithakis

Curators: Chloe Akrithakis, Alexios Papazacharias
Organized by: Benaki Museum, Akrithakis Archive
In collaboration with: Rolex

Messolonghi 1826. 200 Years Since the Exodus

Benaki Museum of Greek Culture
Opening: Tuesday, February 17, 2026, 20:00
Exhibition dates: February 18 – May 3, 2026

On the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the Exodus of Messolonghi, the Benaki Museum organizes a commemorative exhibition aiming, on the one hand, to honor this pivotal historical event of the Greek War of Independence an event that stirred international public opinion and strengthened the Philhellenic movement and, on the other, to highlight the significance and timelessness of the heroic Exodus of the Messolonghi defenders in the struggle for freedom.

**Auguste Charpentier** (1813–1880) (engraver) – **Theodoros P. Vryzakis** (1814–1878) (designer), *The Exodus of Messolonghi*, 1856, hand-colored lithograph, 84 × 59 cm, Benaki Museum

Through representative paintings, drawings, prints, books, and objects, the exhibition presents an extensive selection of the iconography of Messolonghi, the Greek struggle, and works inspired by Philhellenism. Rare documents from the Benaki Museum collections, the collection of drawings and prints of Dr. John Robertson, as well as from other institutions and private collections, will be shown, illuminating the ways in which the city served both political Philhellenism and the intellectual formation of modern Greece. Many of the selected works are previously unknown to the general public and unpublished, enriching our understanding of the iconography of Messolonghi.

**Louis Benjamin Marie Devouges** (1770–1842), *The Oath of the Messolonghi Defenders* (1826), oil on canvas, 71.5 × 86.5 cm, Benaki Museum

Curators: Dr. Konstantinos I. Stefanis, Dr. Spiridoula Dimitriou, Dr. John Robertson
Organized by: Benaki Museum

Readings of a Collection. 60 Years of MIET

Benaki Museum
Opening: Wednesday, February 25, 2026, 20:00
Duration: February 26 – April 26, 2026

The exhibition presents more than 100 works from the collection of the Cultural Foundation of the National Bank of Greece (MIET), covering most of the Greek twentieth century. Printmaking holds a prominent place, along with sculpture, both displayed in specially designed spaces.