While still a student, he used to attend the Sunday painting lectures at the Athens School of Fine Arts. In 1931, after successfully passing the university entrance examinations, he enrolled in the preparatory department of the School, where he studied under Dimitrios Geraniotis. Subsequently he trained at the studios of Konstantinos Parthenis and Umvertos Argyros, and, from 1933 onwards, he attended night classes at the engraving studio of Yiannis Kefallinos. Upon his graduation In 1936, he received a scholarship from the Academy of Athens to study mosaic abroad. Thus, the following year, he set off with his friend Nikos Nikolaou, also a painter, for Rome, but he soon left Rome and settled in Paris. There, he attended the School of Fine Arts, studying painting under Charles Guerin and mural painting under Ducos de La Haille. At the same time, he also attended the Ecole d'Arts et Métiers, taking courses in mosaic. He returned to Greece at the outbreak of World War II in order to enlist. In 1947, he was elected professor at the preparatory department of the Athens School of Fine Arts and, ten years later, he became tenured professor at the faculty of Painting, a position which he held until 1983. From 1959 to 1962 he designed and executed the engraved composition decorating the exterior wall of the Athens Hilton. Apart from painting and engraving, he also took on pottery, illustration and set design, working for the Greek National Theater, the Greek National Ballet and the Art Theater of Karolos Koun.
His distinctions include, among others: the bronze medal at the Panhellenic exhibition of 1940; the gold medal at the International Handicrafts Fair in Munich in 1973; his election as a full member of the International Institute of Arts and Letters (1962); his decoration with the medal of the Order of the Phoenix (1979); and the Award for Excellence in the Arts and Letters of the Academy of Athens (1979). His first solo show was held in 1959 at Armos gallery. He participated in group and international exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale (1958) and the International Tapestry Biennial in Lausanne (1965, 1972). In 1988, a retrospective exhibition of his work was held at the Greek National Gallery, whereafter the artist made a considerable donation to the museum. In 1996, an exhibition in his honor was organized by the Academy of Athens.
An artist with tremendous impact on post-war art in Greece, both through his work in visual arts and his teaching, he managed to merge the classical with the modern in his paintings. Although interested in a variety of thematic categories, including landscape and still life, his creative work, both in its realist and its geometric stage, is foremostly anthropocentric, revolving around the pivotal themes of love and death.