George Varlamos was born in 1922 on the island of Paros.

In 1942 he enrolled at the School of Fine Art, Athens to study painting under Constantinos Parthenis and Umbertos Argyros and printmaking with Giannis Kefallinos, graduating in 1947.

He continued his studies in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, between 1951 and 1952, in painting with R. Cami, J.E. Bersier and H.G. Adam and later between 1958 and 1961 at the College Technique Estienne in printmaking with G.L. Prost and R. Cottet.

Both his painting and printmaking work developed together. His stylistic language initially was based on the assimilation of elements from the aesthetics of the 1930s which later evolved to a more personal style of clean-cut compositions, clear lines and the timeless dimension of beauty in nature and human beings.

His relation with printmaking, an art that is addressed to a broader public, is interlocked with his belief regarding the educative and social role of art. He is one of the few Greek printmakers who practised all areas of printmaking. 

Between 1953 and 1956 he collaborated with Giannis Kefallinos in producing the publication of ‘Δέκα Λευκαί Λήκυθοι του Μουσείου Αθηνών’ and continued to illustrate more than two hundred books in his lifetime.

Varlamos presented his work in a large number of solo and group exhibitions such as the 1958 Sao Paolo Biennale and the 1963 Alexandria Biennale. Additionally, he showed his work in Moscow, Belgrade, Leipzig, Paris, Lugano and so on. In 1995 he was awarded by the Academy of Athens for his lifetime contribution to art, and in 2017 the Byzantine and Christian Museum in Athens presented a large-scale, posthumous retrospective of his work entitled ‘The wildflowers of Varlamos’.

His work is found in many public and private collections, notably at: The National Gallery of Greece, the Athens Municipal Gallery and the National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation.