Born and grew up in Constantinople. He studied at the Phanar Greek Orthodox College and then left for Paris in 1901 to study initially architecture. In Paris he eventually decided to study painting until 1908 near Henri Martin. In 1913 he returned to Greece, initially in Thessaloniki and then based in Athens. In 1917 he became a member of the avant-garde art group” Omada Technis” (“Art Group”) that imported the international contemporary art movements to Greece. He traveled extensively in Greece, Western Europe, Palestine and Egypt. Apart from painting, he was also involved in the public discussion on the modernization of the Greek language. He has illustrated the first alphabet book in the new modern Greek language Demotiki, and written articles to the newspapers Nouma, Elefthero Vima and art journals. Maleas was awarded by Greek Government with the Highest Acknowledgement of Letters and Arts. Died in Athens.
Constantinos Maleas lived in Macedonia region, in the city of Thessaloniki from 1913 to 1917 where he made numerous Macedonian landscapes. One example of his Macedonian period is “Landscape in Northern Greece, possibly Khalkidhiki 1914” sold by the auction house Bonhams, London on 10.11.2008 (lot nr.31) for 240 000 GBP.
