A pictorial tour of Kapsali and the Kythira landscape is presented by Peter Sternäng in his new solo exhibition titled «Paintings from the Neighborhood», which opens on Thursday, September 3, at 9:00 p.m., at the gallery follow your art in Kapsali. The exhibition will run until September 13, 2026.
The exhibition will be open daily from 8:00 p.m. to midnight, as well as by appointment.
Paintings from the Neighborhood – Peter Sternäng
Opening: Thursday, September 3, 2026 | 9:00 p.m.
Duration: September 3–13, 2026
follow your art, Kapsali, Kythira.
A few words from the artist
Kapsali.
One morning in late January, in my studio in Sweden. Outside the window, a snowstorm is raging, and it’s still dark. I’m thinking about Greece, where I was last fall, painting. Did it really happen, or was it just a dream? And I wonder, will it happen again?;
I remember those few weeks in September on Kythira, the Ionian island between the Peloponnese and Crete, where, according to local legend, Aphrodite was once born here, emerging from the sea foam. I stayed in Kapsali, at the southern tip of the island, between the two coves, with mountains rising all around. On their slopes, small whitewashed churches and chapels dot the landscape. Among them, the chapel of John the Baptist stands out.
About a hundred meters above the village, perched on the sheer cliff, the chapel is accessed by a narrow, spiral staircase. Two snow-white structures seem to hover above the cliff. The English call it the Sacred Shrine of Saint John of Kremnos. Up there, silence engulfs you. Only birds of prey break the silence as they glide effortlessly on the warm updrafts. The air is filled with the scent of rosemary, sage, and pine warmed by the sun. A solitary Greek man is there every day, from morning until night, tending to the grounds. He greets the few visitors who arrive breathless after the climb, welcomes them, and gives them a brochure about the history of the place.
The English artist Edward Lear must have visited here at some point while touring the region and creating his famous lithographs in the 1860s. And many years later, in 1944, the first Allied soldiers landed on this beach on their way to their base in Berlin.
One of the rooms is furnished with a table and two chairs, and three windows overlook the sea. It’s like a wonderfully cool and quiet studio. There, I was given the opportunity to stay for a few days and paint, filled with a sense of divine gratitude.
Peter Sternäng
