1888-1927
In 1888, after several crises and suicide attempts, the sculptor was admitted to the Mental Hospital of Corfu as 'suffering from dementia'.
He stayed there for 13 years, 10 months, and 27 days, until June 6, 1902, when his mother took him home, considering him 'calm'. She still blamed sculpture for her son's illness and thus destroyed any of his creations. Upon his release and return to Pyrgos, Yannoulis Chalepas was regarded by his fellow villagers as the 'village madman'. He turned to herding animals and farm work. He became a ghostly figure, a shadow of his former self, completely disconnected from the art he loved, sculpture.
After his mother's death in 1916, he felt confident enough to start a new, solitary life in his house in Pyrgos. In 1927, Chalepas was awarded the Aristeion of Arts.
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