Sophia Vari

Sophia Vari was an internationally celebrated Greek artist known for her distinctive visual language that bridges classical harmony and contemporary abstraction. Working across sculpture, painting, collage, and jewelry, Vari explored the dialogue between geometry and sensuality, volume and elegance. Her works are instantly recognizable for their refined formal balance, bold color contrasts, and mastery of space and material.

Beginning her artistic journey in painting at the age of sixteen, Vari’s practice evolved significantly after a formative trip to Egypt in 1978, where she was deeply inspired by monumental sculpture. From that moment on, sculpture in bronze and marble became central to her work, allowing her to shape humanized, architectural forms that inhabit public and private spaces with quiet power.

Vari’s signature polychrome sculptures have been exhibited extensively across major cities including Paris, Florence, Rome, Monte Carlo, Munich, Geneva, Madrid, Beijing, Shanghai, Cartagena de Indias, and London. Her ability to integrate sculptural rhythm into urban settings reflects her lifelong pursuit: “to take geometry, volume and form and humanize the whole within space.”

Alongside her large-scale works, Vari developed a celebrated body of jewelry—sophisticated “sculptures-à-porter”—which, over 35 years, transformed noble materials into wearable art. In her assemblages on canvas, she replaced volume with color, while maintaining the essence of sculptural integrity.

Vari’s oeuvre was informed by her multicultural background and international life between France, Colombia, Mexico, the United States, Greece, Italy, and Monaco. Her career was marked by solo and group exhibitions, public commissions, and participation in major international art fairs. She was married to renowned Colombian artist Fernando Botero.

Sophia Vari passed away in 2023 in Monaco. Her legacy endures in a body of work that continues to resonate for its elegance, complexity, and timeless sense of harmony.

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Sophia Vari: Eidos – La Forma della Felicità

5 Jun - 31 Aug 2025

FORTE DEI MARMI

Oblong Contemporary is honoured to announce the official representation of the late Sophia Vari , one of the most influential and internationally celebrated voices in contemporary sculpture. To mark this important moment, the gallery will inaugurate a major summer showcase dedicated to her work in its Forte dei Marmi space....

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Sophia Vari

Sophia Vari: Eidos – La Forma della Felicità

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