An internationally active visual artist, painter, and fine art appraiser, Athanasio Celia is the founder of Verticalism, a distinctive theory of artistic creation. Rooted in his book “132 Capital Letters,” a unique research study on the Word, the Number, and Symmetry, Verticalism is defined by works dominated by vertical lines. His artworks are also known as “Safe Art” — created with fire, making them impossible to forge.
In addition to his conceptual work, Celia has dedicated himself to portraiture. Hailed as a “Greek artist and art expert” by Reuters, and a “Parisian painter and art historian” by The Guardian, he rose to international prominence between 1992 and 2008, giving interviews to major global outlets such as Reuters and the BBC.
Athanasio Celia was born in Germany. He began exhibiting in the mid-1980s and moved to Paris in the 1990s. In 1991, his Paris gallery introduced him as the youngest established painter in the city, followed by an exhibition that same year at Munich’s Haus der Kunst. When he settled in Greece for the first time in 1998, the Greek press welcomed him as one of the most highly valued painters and the founder of Verticalism. He is also well known for his philanthropic work. A landmark contribution came in 2007, when Celia played a pivotal role in the return of an ancient golden Macedonian wreath from the Getty Museum in the U.S. back to Greece — a story later featured in an award-winning documentary aired several times on Greek public television.
Remarkably, Jacques Chirac, then Mayor of Paris and later President of France, purchased one of his works for Paris City Hall. Celia’s philosophical and theological study attempting to prove the existence of God is registered in the German University Theological Index (Index Theologicus). He has also published the authentication report of Vincent van Gogh’s final painting, as well as the appraisal of Van Gogh’s personal notebook.
In his honor, the first major one-day auction exclusively featuring the works of Athanasio Celia took place in Germany in 1995.
Accompanying this very special conversation and introduction to the artist will be musician Giotis Kyttaris, while Yiannis Sofias will perform on harmonicas.
Enjoy the broadcast!
