Born in Beirut in 1932, Wajih Nahlé exhibited a propensity for art from a young age; he claimed, “I was born with a brush in my hand” (Aljaysh, ‘Creative People From My Country,’ Issue 245, November 2005, online). In his early years, Nahlé would frequent the studio of his neighbour, renowned Lebanese painter Moustafa Farroukh, and observe him through his window. Farroukh eventually noticed the boy’s inquisitiveness and passion for drawing, and adopted him as one of his pupils from 1948 to 1953. Nahlé joined Beirut’s Hawd al-Wilaya School and later the Alexis Boutros Institute of Arts and Engineering, where his keen creative mind flourished. Pursuing an artistic career in the 1950s, Nahlé delved beyond painting and drawing to sculpture and mural design, which featured in several international airports in Jeddah, Riyadh, and New York. Drawing inspiration from his cultural heritage, notably the Arabic letterform, Nahlé’s paintings retain a sense of celebration and history through bold, teeming compositions. A master of oil techniques, he employs a rich palette and gestural brushstrokes to imbue his subjects with a sense of life and luminosity. With a career spanning more than sixty years, Nahlé has exhibited internationally across Europe, the United States, and the Arab world.