World-renowned Greek sculptor Takis has died, the art and science research foundation he founded in 1986 announced. He was 93 years old.
“With deep sorrow, the Takis Foundation announces the loss of the international sculptor Panagiotis Vassilakis, known as Takis. A true pioneer, revolutionary and legend. It will remain forever unforgettable”, the announcement said.

“Thanks to his multifaceted creative genius, his generosity and his incredible intuitiveness, Takis was ahead of his time, a fact that contributed to his international success,” the Takis Foundation said in its announcement.

Born Panagiotis Vasilakis in Athens in 1925, Takis moved to Paris in the 1950s where he created his first kinetic sculptures, which are the subject of an ongoing exhibition at the Tate in London.
Takis returned to Greece in 1986, where he established the Research Center for the Arts and the Sciences in Gerovouno in Attica, with the official inauguration taking place in 1993.

Panagiotis Vassilakis, known worldwide as Takis, was one of the most important figures in the Greek and world art scene. A pioneer of kinetic art, Takis brought to the world his artistic talent after the end of World War II and imposed himself by offering a different approach to kinetic art. He was self-taught and managed to create an inseparable link between art and science by combining elements of nature and physics in his sculptures.