B&E Goulandris Foundation

The Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation was established in 1979. It is a non-profit organisation for public benefit, whose main objective is to support and promote the visual arts. The Collection of the Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation is one of the most important private collections to be assembled in the course of the second half of the 20th century. Like all collections, the present one is eminently subjective. Although Basil and Elise Goulandris were surrounded by renowned historians and professionals from the art market already in the early 1950s, the couple chose works following the criteria of their own personal tastes and aesthetic standards. They built their collection with care, patience and true devotion over a period of nearly fifty years and this with the aim that it would one day be exhibited in their museum. The primary objective of the new museum built in Athens is to house the collection and make it accessible to all, as was the wish of its founders.