In 1878 he came to Athens, where, for two years, he attended courses at the National Technical University School of Architecture. In 1880, thanks to the financial support of expatriate Stephen Zafeiropoulos, he went to Munich and enrolled in the Academy. For seven years he attended painting classes under professors such as Gyula Benczúr, Ludwig von Löfftz, Wilhelm von Diez and Nikolaos Gyzis, the latter of which also became a very close friend of his.
He stayed in the Bavarian capital until 1925. During this time, he operated his own studio, became a member of the artists association “Luitpold-Gruppe” and developed a prolific artistic activity.
His primary concern throughout the course of his life was the study of color and the formulation of a theory about warm, cool and complementary colors.
The scenes from everyday life and the landscapes that dominate his artistic creation are the themes that helped him implement his theories on color and light. In addition, he took interest in still life and portrait painting, while his scenes from the Orient, inspired from his travels to Istanbul and Asia Minor, abide by the style of the orientalists.