Nabil Ghandour

Nabil Ghandour is a multidisciplinary Lebanese artist known for creating evocative, dreamlike landscape compositions in oil paint that he largely blends himself.

Ghandour originally studied economics and then worked in the family business, although he retained a passion for art that was rooted in boyhood visits to Paris museums made with his parents.

When he felt the time was right, Ghandour decided to shift his focus entirely to art, obtaining a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Parsons School of Design in New York. He also attended several workshops and short courses at: the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; School of the Art Institute of Chicago; Royal College of Art, London; and Slade School of Fine Art, University College London.

An ardent lover of nature, Ghandour chooses subjects that celebrate the best of the unspoilt natural world, from serene sunsets to scenic seascapes, weaving tapestries of mesmerising colours. “I love watching sunsets, especially the way those fiery reds, pinks and oranges change colour,” he told Artscoops. “I’m always painting in my mind, looking at the colours as they shift in shade in front of me, and thinking how to recreate these incredible skies on canvas.”

Blending colours is a key component of Ghandour’s practice, heightened by the fact that he mixes his own oil paints. His skies and seas are brought to life in sweeping strokes of colour that merge and align on horizons and are bold, but also display subtlety, softness and luminescence.

The locations Ghandour selects for his compositions are usually places that he holds in affection, such as the beach of Ramlet al-Baida and Mount Sannine in Lebanon, but also beauty spots that caught his eye while abroad, including landscapes in Wales and the South-West of the UK.

As part of his practice, Ghandour photographs these scenes with his camera and, back at his studio, develops the photos. Afterwards, he begins sketching and recreating the scenes before adding the paint. Blending is done mostly on the canvas rather than on the palette.

Ghandour’s work can be found in several private collections and is available on Artscoops. His paintings also featured in a solo show titled ‘The Alchemy of Color’, in Selections Viewing Rooms, Beirut (2023).