Martha HRAOUI

Martha Hraoui has "lived" painting ever since her first exhibition as a young woman in Beirut in 1967. Since then, she has continued to exhibit regularly in locales throughout Europe, the Middle East and the Americas.

First settling in France in 1975, she has from 1995 divided her time between her two studios, one in Beirut and the other in Paris.

A cultural duality of nudes and landscapes permeates her work. Her serene male and female nudes repose in sensual and warm colour harmonies, created with her delicate handling of pastels. Their faces, with their faintly distinguishable features, are highly expressive. The beauty of spontaneous and lively lines is accentuated. The artist says that on some occasions it is colour that ignites her inspiration ; on others, it is form.

She has a special fondness for her women working the soil of the Bekaa plain. Tenderness shows through in the warm, earthy colours, interspersed with oases of green. Heart and brushes paint in tandem. There is a lyrical sensuality to her landscapes. The eye travels through to her distant skylines, and beyond into her magnificent skyscapes.

Her sophisticated colours and cultural duality continue to grow ever more harmonious. She is an artist who loves both intensity - and peace of mind.