You have entered the museum, which presents the collection of George Costakis. George did not have any special art education; he was a self-taught enthusiast endowed with curiosity and taste, carrying an unquenchable thirst for beauty in his soul. His fascination with art led Costakis to start collecting paintings, graphics, icons, becoming a world-renowned collector, the possessor of a unique collection of Russian avant-garde works and Soviet artists from the early 20th century.
Costakis was not a rich man; he did not possess a fortune worth millions. The only source for purchasing artworks was the money he earned himself.
When George collected works of the Russian avant-garde, merely mentioning the names of avant-garde artists could put someone at risk of repression. Provincial museums were not allowed to show the avant-garde works in their halls. In some cases they were even written off their store rooms. But Costakis took the risk—being the first in the Soviet Union to comprehend the significance of Russian avant-garde in the history of world art, seeking and collecting drawings, canvases, porcelain and archives. He preserved much that, left to the whims of fate, would have vanished into obscurity.
George Costakis was born in 1913 in Russia in a large family: he had three brothers and a sister. Remaining a Greek citizen, he spent most of his life in Russia.
His older brother, Spiridon Costakis, worked as a chauffeur but was not just any chauffeur; he was a top-class racer. For several years, he won the country's motorcycle championships, which were quite popular at the time. Naturally, the brother was an idol for George. During those years, the profession of a chauffeur was highly prestigious. Many young men from intellectual families, sometimes with higher education, proud of their driving skills, held it in high regard. Thus, George began working as a driver at the Greek Embassy after school.
While working as a driver, George often drove the ambassador to consignment shops. These visits marked his initial exposure to the world of beauty, offering an opportunity to broaden horizons and develop a taste. George spent a long time among collectors, listened to what they said, observed what they purchased. Gradually, he learned to discern and began acquiring porcelain, then mainly Dutch paintings, followed by Russian silver, carpets, and fabrics. This continued for about ten years.
During the War the Greek Embassy moved from Moscow and George Costakis found a job at the Canadian Embassy, where he worked until he retired.
But George always pondered that if he continued in the same manner, he wouldn't bring anything new to the art world. Everything he collected already existed in every major museum in any country and in private collections as well. Continuing in the same direction, he could become wealthy, but... not much more. He yearned to do something extraordinary. Quite accidentally, he found himself in a Moscow apartment. There, for the first time, he saw two or three canvases by avant-garde artists, one of them by Olga Rozanova... And so, he purchased the painting by Rozanova, brought it home, and hung it next to his other paintings. As he later recounted, he felt as if he had lived in a room with closed curtains, and now they had flung open, letting in the sunlight. Since that time, George decided to part with everything he had collected so far and acquire only avant-garde works. This happened in 1946.