Founded in 2012 by art historian and curator Christina Androulidaki, CAN Gallery is among the younger breed of galleries in Athens that focus on new talent and fresh ideas, as well as fostering close relationships with the artists they represent. Discover a mix of contemporary photography, painting and mixed media by rising stars like Petros Efstathiadis and Manolis Daskalakis-Lemos. The gallery also has a soft spot for artists working with paper.

For almost a century, the Armenian Kalfayan family has collected artefacts of Armenian culture, to preserve and document its traditions. Since 1995, they’ve also taken to exhibiting contemporary art, first with a gallery in Thessaloniki and then at this one in Kolonaki. The gallery represents some of the most important contemporary Greek artists, including the estates of historical figures of 20th century Greek art. It also showcases younger talent, both in its galleries and at art fairs internationally. The Kolonaki gallery is shaped like a big glass box, and always has something worth seeing.

This is the Athenian sibling of Allouche Gallery in New York. One of the most recent arrivals on the Athenian gallery scene, Allouche Benias opened its doors near Syntagma Square in June 2018 with a group show of four American artists. Since then, the gallery has established a programme directly influenced by pop-art and street-art, which is in direct dialogue with current developments in American and Greek painting. Even if contemporary painting is not high on your agenda, the stately mansion on the corner of Akadimias and Kanari Streets is reason enough to visit.

One of the most established contemporary art galleries in town. After opening its first space in Kolonaki in 1977, the Bernier Eliades gallery moved to its present location in Thissio in 1999, and then opened a second space in Brussels in 2016. Owners Jean Bernier and Marina Eliades have been instrumental in introducing international art currents to Greece, including the Arte Povera movement, minimalism, land art and conceptual art.

Pallados Street is a small alley that connects Psirri Square with Athinas Street (it’s a huge hit with Instagrammers because of the extravagant displays of the basket shops there). Hidden among the piles of baskets and plastic flower bouquets, you'll find Pallados 5—the entrance to AD Gallery. Enter the unassuming corridor and two flights up you'll access a small but well-lit space that spans two storeys. The gallery hosts a medley of Greek and foreign artists with a focus on painting and drawing.

One of the biggest players on the local gallery scene, The Breeder Gallery is known for its tongue-in-cheek aesthetic that often embraces pop culture and new media. Its impressively restored building is an attraction in its own right, with several storeys of exhibition spaces, an imposing front door and interesting concrete steps and ramps throughout. As for the art, it's strongly conceptual but seldom academic, with a distinctly colourful aesthetic veering towards abstraction, as seen in the work of Jannis Varelas, Alexandros Vasmoulakis, Sofia Stevi and others.

This two-storey gallery space is perhaps the city's largest private gallery. Boasting extremely high ceilings and a combined floor space of 300 sq. meters, the former industrial building is preferred by artists for whom size matters. Founded in 1988, the gallery has been instrumental in promoting the work of mid-20th century Greek artists living and working abroad. In addition to well-curated exhibitions that catch the pulse of a younger generation of artists, the gallery also operates a really good restaurant and art shop.