(1934-1978)

Kayyali was born in Aleppo in 1934. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome in 1961. The same year he had an exhibit of his paintings in Damascus. He served as a teacher in Syrian high schools before becoming a professor in the Faculty of Fine Arts at Damascus University. In 1968 he held an exhibition titled "fi sabeel al-qadiyyah" (For the Sake of the [Arab] Cause) which was criticized by many artists and journalists as being very pessimistic.

Kayyali expressed his feelings, his personal tragedies, and his pessimism through his art. His painting sold at Christie’s Dubai in 2007 for one and a half times their high estimate price.

He suffered from a psychiatric illness and committed suicide in 1978. Many of his works are kept at the National Museum of Damascus.

References:
http://www.askart.com/;
http://www.syrianartexhibition.com/LoaiKayali.htm

Picture source: http://www.syriatourism.org/