The painter Eleni Paschalidou-Zongolopoulou was born in 1909 in Modi, Constantinople, and passed away in Athens in 1991. Her relatives included the painters Eleni Pagkalou and Andreas Vourloumis, and the sculptor Yannis Pappas.
She grew up in a bourgeois family environment with a deep love for the Arts and Letters; her mother, an amateur painter, encouraged her to pursue painting professionally. She attended the Zappeion Girls’ School of Constantinople, which contributed to her aesthetic and artistic cultivation. In 1925, she settled with her family in Athens. She studied painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts in the studio of Konstantinos Parthenis (1928–1933). In 1933, she met and in 1936 married the sculptor George Zongolopoulos. In 1937, she presented her works in group exhibitions of the “Free Artists” and the “Art Group” (Omada Techni) in Thessaloniki, as well as at the Paris International Exposition, where her interest was captured by the work of El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos) and Pablo Picasso. In 1949, she joined the artistic group “Stathmi” and studied at André Lhote’s School in Paris. In 1953, she studied fresco painting at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence on a scholarship from the State Scholarships Foundation (IKY). Travels to the USA, Spain, Italy, England, and France followed. During the period 1973–1987, she spent several months each year with Zongolopoulos at their apartment-studio in Paris.
She was a member of the Chamber of Fine Arts of Greece and the European Society of Culture (Société Européenne de Culture) based in Venice.
Her mural compositions can be found at the Corinth Railway Station, the University of Athens Medical School, and the LAI airline headquarters in Venezuela. Her works are held in the Municipal Gallery of Athens, the Ministry of Education, the National Bank of Greece, the Vorres Museum of Contemporary Greek Art, the Benaki Museum, the Municipal Gallery of Chania, as well as in the USA, Israel, and elsewhere. A portion of her work and archives is preserved at the George Zongolopoulos Foundation.
She held solo exhibitions in Athens, Thessaloniki, Venice, Paris, and Geneva, and participated in group exhibitions in Athens (e.g., Panhellenic Exhibitions 1938, 1940, 1948, 1952, 1957, 1960, 1963, 1965, 1987), Thessaloniki, and abroad (e.g., Paris International Exposition 1937 – silver medal, New York World’s Fair 1939 – honorary diploma, Alexandria Biennale 1955, Salon des Réalités Nouvelles 1974, Salon Comparaisons 1982, 1984, 1986, Stockholm, Venice, Antwerp, London, Moscow, Jerusalem, Tunis, and the USA).