Nikos Engonopoulos

Nikos Engonopoulos (; October 21, 1907 – October 31, 1985) was a Greek painter and poet. He was one of the most important members of "Generation of the '30s", as well as a major representative of the surrealist movement in Greece. In 1923, he was enrolled in a lycée in Paris, where he studied for a period of four years. After his return to Greece, he joined the Army in order to fulfil the mandatory military service. Later on, he worked as a translator in a bank and as a secretary at the University of Athens. From 1930 to 1933 Engonopoulos worked as a designer in the Urban Planning Department of the Greek Ministry of Public Works. He also attended classes at the art studio of Photis Kontoglou and studied Byzantine art under Andreas Xyngopoulos. During that time he met important artists like the poet Andreas Embirikos and the painters Yannis Tsarouchis, Giorgio de Chirico and Yannis Moralis. Later Engonopoulos credited Embirikos and de Chirico as his major surrealist influences.

His first paintings, mostly temperas on paper depicting old houses, were presented at an Art of Modern Greek Tradition exhibition, organised in January 1938. In 1954, he was selected to represent Greece in Biennale of Venice and the following year later, he participated in the Biennale of São Paulo. Engonopoulos was married twice; first he married the artist Nelly Andrikopoulou from 1950 to 1954 and in 1960 till death he married Eleni Tsiokou with whom he had one daughter. Engonopoulos' paintings are held in public and private collections such as the National Gallery of Greece, Benaki Museum, the Teloglion Fine Arts Foundation, the Museum of Modern Greek Art of Rhodes etc.