The Department of Art History is pleased to co-sponsor “Pretty in Pink: A Portrait of Queen Olga of Greece at the Benaki Museum,” a talk by George Manginis, Academic Director, Benaki Museum in Athens. Following the lecture, there will be a conversation with Sharon Gerstel, UCLA Art History Professor and Director, UCLA Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for the Study of Hellenic Culture.
On the third floor of the Benaki Museum in central Athens hangs a portrait of Queen Olga, the consort of Greece’s second king, painted a few years after her wedding to George I. In March 2021, the portrait, attributed to an unknown artist, was included in the Museum’s anniversary exhibition celebrating the bicentennial of the Greek Revolution. This lecture will unfold the story of this radiant but enigmatic painting, from its creation to its bequest to the Museum, offering surprising insights into 19th– and 20th– century Greek and European history.
George Manginis is the Academic Director of the Benaki Museum in Athens. He has taught and researched Cypriot prehistory, Islamic art and architecture, Sinai studies, Chinese ceramics, European decorative arts and the Greek and Armenian diasporas. In 2016 he published Mount Sinai: A History of Travellers and Pilgrims and China Rediscovered: The Benaki Museum Collection of Chinese Ceramics, followed by Ceramics from Korea at the Benaki Museum: The George Eumorfopoulos Collection and Director’s Choice: Benaki Museum in 2021, and Imperial China in 2023.
The event, followed by a reception, will take place on Saturday, January 11, 2025 at 4:00 P.M. in 314 Royce Hall. All are encouraged to attend.
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