A large-scale 1950s oil painting by Greek modernist Konstantinos Parthenis has sold for €1.25 million at a Bonhams auction in Paris, setting the record for the most expensive 20th-century Greek artwork ever sold at auction.
This sale marks a striking reversal for a painter whose market collapsed after a 2012 forgery lawsuit against Sotheby's.
The work, Poesie (Annunciation), measuring 318 by 158 centimeters, was estimated at €300,000 before competitive international bidding drove the final price to €1,258,400 including premiums. T
he sale came as part of Bonhams' 48th biannual Greek Sale in Paris, which grossed more than €4.4 million in total — the highest collective result for a Greek sale in 15 years.
The turnaround for Parthenis is notable.
His reputation suffered lasting damage after shipping magnate Diamantis Diamantidis filed suit against Sotheby's in 2012 over forged canvases sold in London.
The market volatility persisted as recently as 2025, when another Parthenis work failed to attract an opening bid of €140,000 in Paris.
"This is an institutional reset for Greek modernism," said Terpsichore Angelopoulou, director of Art Expertise, which collaborated with Bonhams on the sale.
Mrs. Angelopoulou noted that the absolute record for Greek art remains a 1908 maritime landscape by Konstantinos Volanakis, which sold for nearly €2 million.
The Parthenis result is the latest marker of growing international appetite for Greek art at auction, with collectors from outside Greece increasingly active in the bidding on historical works.
By Lyto Missiakouli