Art / Artists
Giorgos Rorris: The Body, Light and Painting
On the occasion of the exhibition “P. Tetsis – G. Rorris. Of Light and of Earth” at the E. Averoff Museum
STOA · 21 October 2026
The exhibition “P. Tetsis – G. Rorris. Of Light and of Earth”, on view at the E. Averoff Museum in Metsovo until 18 January 2027, brings the work of Giorgos Rorris and his place in contemporary Greek painting back into focus.
Bringing together 82 works by Panagiotis Tetsis and Giorgos Rorris, the exhibition sets two distinct painterly approaches side by side: the outdoor, natural light and colour of Tetsis, and the earthy palette, inner light and human presence that define much of Rorris’s work.
Giorgos Rorris and the Human Figure
The human figure lies at the core of Rorris’s painting.
The female nude in particular is one of the most characteristic and recognisable subjects of his output. His models are usually depicted within the real space of the studio, with light, shadow and the surrounding space forming an organic part of the composition.
His painting does not seek to idealise the body. Instead, it is concerned with the physical presence of the model, with corporeality and with the way the human figure occupies the pictorial space.
This devotion to the act of painting is also one of the elements that connect Rorris with his teacher, Panagiotis Tetsis. Rorris himself has said that through Tetsis he learned to love “the act of painting in itself”.
The Nude in Rorris’s Painting
For the collector approaching the work of Giorgos Rorris, the nude is not a peripheral subject but one of the central fields in which his personal painterly language was formed.
Across works of different sizes, from large compositions to smaller, more concentrated studies, the same elements return: the human figure, the studio, an earthy colour range and a strong interplay of light and shadow.
He has described the encounter with the nude model as a painterly “surprise”, which helps explain the persistence with which he returns to the human body across different periods of his work.
A “Nude” by Giorgos Rorris at STOA
STOA presents a characteristic “Nude” by Giorgos Rorris, oil on canvas measuring 30 × 35 cm, signed lower right.
Its small format is particularly interesting in relation to the larger compositions for which the painter is also known. Here, Rorris’s human figure and painterly research are condensed into a work of just 30 × 35 centimetres.
Thematically, the work belongs to one of the most recognisable chapters of the artist’s output: his long-standing engagement with the human body and the nude.
The current Tetsis–Rorris presentation in Metsovo offers a particularly timely occasion to take a fresh look at the work of a painter who has maintained a steady and distinctive presence in contemporary Greek figurative painting.
The Work at STOA
Sources & further reading
- “P. Tetsis – G. Rorris. Of Light and of Earth”: official exhibition page (E. Averoff Museum)
- “When Rorris Met Tetsis” (in Greek) (Kathimerini)
- “Giorgos Rorris in the footsteps of his teacher Panagiotis Tetsis: from Paris to Metsovo” (in Greek) (iefimerida)
- “A distinctive artistic encounter: Tetsis and Rorris at the Averoff Museum” (in Greek) (Athens Voice)
- Address at the opening of the exhibition (in Greek) (Presidency of the Hellenic Republic)
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About STOA
STOA has been active in the art market since 1976. Its activity includes modern and contemporary art, as well as historical, collectible and museum-quality objects, with an emphasis on research, documentation, appraisal and the trade of works and objects of art.