Beyond Time – Icon Exhibition by Loukas & Irene Seroglou

Date: 24.07 to 19.08.2026 Opening Hours: Daily, 09:00–14:00 and 16:00–20:00 Venue: Bürgerspitalkirche St. Jakob, next to the Kammerhofmuseum, Gmunden

The exhibition title points to the transcendent origin and the timeless dimension of icon painting. Beginning with the mysterious Fayum mummy portraits, which were further developed by the early Christians into one of the most significant forms of expression in spiritual art, a visual language unfolds that makes the invisible tangible. The icon is far more than a devotional image: it is a place of encounter, contemplation, and inner transformation. For centuries, monks have meditated on this "vehicle of heaven," which symbolizes the transition from the visible world into the absolute. The artist couple Loukas and Irene Seroglou once again present the thematic diversity and artistic depth of icon painting this year. Alongside classic depictions of saints, small-format icons framed by Byzantine and Italian book ornamentation will be on display.

SHORT BIOGRAPHIES

Loukas Seroglou came to Vienna on a scholarship in 1960, where he studied architecture, painting, commercial graphics, and decoration, and participated in numerous competitions and major building projects, including the development above the Franz Josef Bahnhof and the AKH. He began his artistic career with a series of surrealist images whose central theme is the question of life's meaning; most of them are in private collections, including that of the Austrian Federal President Dr. Rudolf Kirchschläger. Through years of stays in the Monastic Republic of Mount Athos in Greece, he discovered his love of icon painting, which he learned from several monks. He is also a state-certified tour guide for Austria and Greece.

Irene P. Seroglou completed her studies at the Athens Conservatory in piano, and after a brief study of philosophy in Luxembourg, she came to Vienna to devote herself, together with her husband, to icon painting, which she learned from various icon painters on Corfu and Crete. In addition to traditional icons, she specializes in combining iconography with realism. In 2025, she was nominated for the St. Leopold Peace Prize of Klosterneuburg Abbey. Icons by Loukas and Irene Seroglou can be found in private collections, monasteries, and churches in Austria, Greece, Germany, France, and the USA.