Masterpieces – The History of a Period

The Last Farewell (97 x 130 cm – 1976)

This is a circular composition, with the crowd and the rocks forming a circle around a plateau. A symmetrical play divides the work into two parts, with in the center a coffin draped with the Lebanese flag and carried by six of the people. A guard and then a great crowd clamber up the rock faces to take full part in the event. Here and there some flags are scattered. A priest stands before the grave dug to receive the martyr-hero. A rich verdant plain blends into the distant mountains while a great orange sun illuminates the scene. The sky is yellow, the colors clear mauve, blue or ochre, while the crowd around wear red, blue or dark gray. The sun is setting in the evening sky, with shadows cast into the foreground, urging hope and promising a brighter future.

Nature appears like an unassailable fortress, here on the heights of Mayrouba in the heart of the Lebanese mountain.