ATHENS – Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou inaugurated an exhibition of portraits from the Louvre at the National Gallery of Art on Monday evening.

The exhibition, “Seeking immortality: The art of portraiture in the Louvre collections” is part of celebrations for the 200th anniversary of the Greek War of Independence, which in France is celebrated by the temporary exhibit “Paris-Athens: The Birth of Modern Greece, 1675–1919” showing at the Louvre.

Referring to the latter, the president said the exhibit “shows the ties Greece has with European culture, linking the City of Lights with the long history of the Greek capital.” It was also the French members of the enlightenment movement who strengthened enslaved Greeks’ spirit, through the intellectual Greeks of the diaspora, inspiring them in their pursuit of liberty and political ties.

The Athens exhibit includes Jacques-Louis David’s iconic “The Death of Marat”, Antoine-Jean Gros’s masterpiece “Bonaparte at the Pont d’Arcole”, but it spans more than 3,000 years of history starting with Middle East and Egyptian portraits and including works by Botticelli, El Greco, Velasquez, Rembrandt, Goya, Reynolds, David, Ingres, Delacroix and others.

Formally opening to the public on December 1, the exhbit will run to March 28, 2022. It has been funded by Citibank Europe Plc/Hellas.