Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas was born in Athens on 26 February 1906.

From early youth he showed a serious inclination towards drawing and, while still at school, he took painting lessons with Constantine Parthenis.

In 1922 he went to Paris, taking lessons in painting and drawing from Bissiere and D. Galanis at the Academie Ranson, at the same time as studying French literature and Aesthetics at the Sorbonne.

He first exhibited his work in Paris in 1923, at the Salon des Tuileries and the Salon des Surindependants, and afterwards contributed to many group exhibitions.

His first individual exhibition took place in Paris in 1927, at the Galerie Percier. His first exhibition in Athens, held at the Strategopoulos Gallery in 1928, was shared with the sculptor Michael Tombros.

In 1934, already a respected artist, he decided to leave Paris in order to settle in Athens. Between 1935 and 1937 he edited the periodical To Trito Mati (The Third Eye) together with the architect Pikionis, the poet Papatzonis and the director Karantinos.

In 1937 he restored the ancestral home of the Ghikas family in Hydra, where he painted the first works in which he decisively expressed his artistic style, combining the elements of cubism with the nature, light and architecture of Greece.

He was appointed Professor of Drawing at the Architectural School of the National Technical University of Athens in 1941, and continued to teach there until 1958.

In 1972 he was elected a regular member of the Academy of Athens and in 1986 an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Arts in London. He was also granted honorary doctorates by the Architectural School of the University of Thessaloniki in 1982 and the School of Philosophy of the University of Athens in 1991.

More than fifty exhibitions of Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas' works were held over the years in Athens, Paris, London, Geneva, Berlin and New York. Examples of his work are to be found in many private collections in Greece, Western Europe and the USA, as well as in the Musee d'Art Moderne in Paris, the Tate Gallery in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the National Gallery in Athens, and many other museums.

Apart from painting, drawing and sculpture, Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas was also involved in designing stage sets and costumes for theatrical works such as Aristophanes' Clouds (National Theatre of Greece, 1951; Comedie Francaise, 1952) and Gide's ballet Persephone, with music by Stravinsky (Covent Garden, 1961). He also illustrated a number of books, including Kazantzakis' Odyssey, Longos' Daphne and Chloe and Cavafy's Poems. His writings include several books, studies and articles concerning architecture and aesthetics, as well as treatises on Greek art.

Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas died on 3 September 1994.