The Athens Art Gallery was founded in 1963 by Marilena Liakopoulou and it initially operated for a decade as "Athens Art Gallery-Hilton." During the dictatorship, and under the concept that "Art is a testimony of its age", the gallery exhibited works of protest, like those of Maria Karavela and Elias Dekoulakos. This caused the Hilton venue to close down, before the opening of the last exhibition.
After 1973, the gallery reopened in a new privately-owned space, at Dexamenis square in Athens, where it continues to operate to date.
In its long path, the Athens Art Gallery presented the first solo exhibitions of significant Greek artists who lived abroad, such as Johannes Avramidis, Constantin Byzantios, John Christoforou, Dimitris Perdikidis, Marios Prassinos, Gerasimos Sklavos, Theodoros Stamos and many more, promoted the work of young artists, and also held solo exhibitions of prominent artists from the international scene: Andy Warhol, Max Ernst, Jean Helion, Claude Viallat, et al. At the same time, it hosted major group exhibitions, including: “De Signac aux Surrealistes - Selections from the Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris”, “Vassarely: Ses maitres, ses disciples, ses amis”, et al. It has worked with the Athens National Gallery and many renowned foreign art galleries (Marlborough Gallery, New York; Karl Flinker, Paris; Alexander Iolas, Paris; Galerie de France, Paris), and has also participated in international foires: Kunstmesse, Basel; Salon de Mars, Paris, F.I.A.C., Paris; Art Paris - Carousel du Louvre - Paris, etc.
Since 2001, manager of the Athens Art Gallery is Alexander Liakopoulos, whose main interest lies in promoting contemporary artistic media, while continuing the tradition of the gallery in presenting works of painting and sculpture, as well as supporting new artists.