Eleni Paschalidou-Zongolopoulou

Eleni Paschalidou - Zongolopoulou
Paschalidou - Zongolopoulou in the '30s
Born	Eleni Paschalidou 1909 Istanbul, Ottoman Empire
Died	1991 Athens, Greece
Nationality	Greek
Known for	painter
Spouse(s)	George Zongolopoulos (1936 - 1991)

Eleni Zongolopoulou (née Paschalidou, Istanbul, 1909 - Athens, 1991) was a Greek painter. During her artistic career she followed the movements of Expressionism, Fauvism, Cubism and Abstract art. She was wife of the sculptor George Zongolopoulos.

She was born in 1909 in Moda, a neighbourhood of Kadıköy, Istanbul. Her father, Konstantinos Paschalidis, was a businessman and her mother, Despina Pappa - Paschalidou, was a doll maker. She was brought up in an urban family environment with her sisters Danae Nikolaidi, Lili Paschalidou-Theodoridou, and Alexandra Paschalidou-Moreti. She attented the Zappeion School for Girls and by the time she completed her Gymnasium studies she had already decided to follow a career as a professional painter. She also learned three foreign languages (French, Italian and English).

In 1922 her family left Istanbul and moved first to Bulgaria, then soon after to Thessaloniki and finally to Athens, where they settled permanently in 1925. In 1928, she enrolled in the Athens School of Fine Arts where she studied drawing under the famous Greek painter Konstantinos Parthenis.

In 1933 Paschalidou met Giorgos Zongolopoulos, a sculptor from Athens and friend of her teacher, Parthenis. They were married in 1936 and lived together in the Athenian suburb of Psychiko until Eleni's death in 1991. According to Zongolopoulos himself, Eleni was the most important thing I've had in the world. Although the couple was married for almost 60 years they were childless by their own choice.