Lefteris Olympios

1953 Born in Limassol, Cyprus

1973-1976 Graphic Arts at Doxiades School, Athens

1978-1984 Painting, Iconography, Fresco and Mosaic at the Athens School of Fine Arts

1984-1986 Painting and sculpture at the Free Academy of Fine Arts, The Hague

1985 Visits the IJmuider Kring, an artists' community in IJmuiden. His contact with this group and especially the painter Lei Moulin was crucial for the development of his work.

1996 Starts working on the series 'Promise' after the events in Dherynia, Cyprus and the tragic death of Tassos Isaak and Solomos Solomou. 'Promise', depicting the universal agony of mankind, was completed in 2000. For the next three years it travelled to Portugal, Holland, Greece and Mexico. 'Promise' has not been exhibited in Cyprus yet.

1997 Represents Cyprus at the 47th Venice Biennale with the series 'Philoxenia'.

2012 The Byzantine and Christian Museum in Athens organizes the retrospective exhibition 'Facing Byzantium'.

2014 Violated Beauty in the Domkerk of Utrecht. A site-specific work, created for the cathedral. This work refers to the Cultural Heritage and especially of occupied Cyprus after 1974.

2019 Permanent installation of three paintings from the series Violated Beauty at the ICC (International Criminal Court) in The Hague.

Lefteris Olympios exhibits regularly in the Netherlands, Cyprus, and Greece, and his work is included in major private and public collections.

The main units of his work are:

Deposition · Shells · Philoxenia · Ichthys · Promise · Katharsis

Eleonora's Gown · Matter of Choice · Panagies tis Omorfias

The Journey · Leontios Macheras' Exegeses · Violated Beauty

Reconciliation · The Story of Neophytos the Recluse

Autobiographical · The Cyprus drawings

Lefteris Olympios lives and works in Amsterdam.