ArtDayME: Saloua Raouda Choucair was one of the most prominent female artists in the Middle East, whose works continue to receive strong attention at international auctions. She was born in Beirut in 1916 and raised by her mother after her father's early death. She studied science and later taught both science and drawing in Iraq, where her dual interests deeply influenced her artistic vision. A formative trip to Cairo in 1943 exposed her to Islamic design, sparking her commitment to abstraction.

In 1948, she moved to Paris to study sculpture, lithography, and other techniques, joining the Atelier de l’Art Abstrait and engaging with the ideas of leading modernists. After returning to Lebanon, she married journalist Youssuf Choucair and continued her pioneering artistic work, merging scientific thought, Sufi philosophy, and abstract forms.

Though long underrecognized, major retrospectives in Beirut (2011) and Tate Modern, London (2013) brought her international acclaim. Today, her works are held in major museum collections, including MoMA and the Met in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, Centre Pompidou in Paris, Tate Modern in London, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, Sharjah Art Foundation, and Mathaf in Doha.

She passed away in Beirut on January 26, 2017.

Photos credit: Saloua Raouda Choucair Foundation