Makis Theofylaktopoulos (1939-2023) was born in Athens. He studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts under G. Moralis (1961-1967). From 1969, he lived from time to time in Switzerland, France, and New York on a Ford scholarship (1971). He returned permanently to Greece in 1975.

Most of his paintings are dominated by the human form in relation to space. The exploration of the various versions of this relationship begins with his oldest and most popular theme, the "figure of the motorcyclist," who sometimes appears threatening, like an image of authority, and at other times endangered by the intoxication of speed. The external description of the moving figure is gradually replaced by the sense of movement within the painting itself. The emphasis on this element became key to the development of his work. His figures are usually recognizable, often solitary within the space, and more rarely in scenes with a few characters. In his more abstract works, the subject is sketched suggestively, sometimes with just an outline, but retaining the intensity of its presence and its role in the composition. In addition to oil and acrylic painting, he has used charcoal, crayons, and mixed media. The dynamic expressionist style, the elliptical but robust design, the movement of the rich colour, and the complex processing of the pictorial space are the main visual characteristics of his work. Through these, the energy of the brushstroke is channelled, sometimes towards the surface of the canvas and sometimes towards the depth, depending on the expressive needs that prevail in each evolutionary phase of his work.

In 1988, he was elected professor of painting at the School of Fine Arts of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, where he taught until 2005. He has presented his work in about twenty solo exhibitions and many group exhibitions in Greece and abroad. He participated in the Alexandria Biennale (1977), Europalia (Brussels 1982), the Travelling Exhibition of Greek Painting in Toulouse (1986), and others. In 2010, a major retrospective exhibition of his work was organized at the Benaki Museum, entitled "Fates of Matter, Painting 1960-2010".