Ali Mourabet

Born in Damascus, Ali Mourabet lives and works in Beirut, having spent most of his life in Lebanon with his family. He embarked on a successful career in architectural design and project supervision in 1976, before also beginning to paint professionally the following year. 

Mourabet’s artworks are characterised by a vibrant, uplifting colour palette, which he uses to create paintings that are graphic and geometric in style.

His themes are wide ranging, spanning urban scenes, rural landscapes, beach vistas and everyday items. Mourabet often chooses iconic buildings or locations in Beirut and others that have caught his eye while travelling, recalling his architectural background and passion for structural forms. Streets of houses with multicoloured façades, complete with balconies, pot plants or shutters, the renowned Battersea Power Station in London and the American University of Beirut buildings are among the landmarks that he has captured in joyous works that are marked by sharp, clean lines, bold, crisply defined colour and primitive geometric shapes. Other works depict scenes of everyday life in or away from the city, sometimes from an aerial standpoint, in which the viewer is given a bird’s-eye view of sunbathers under their beach umbrellas or office workers crossing a street, dodging Beirut’s traffic.

While unmistakeably contemporary, much of Mourabet’s work also has something of a nostalgic feel to it, heightened by the way he plays with light and drenches his scenes in sunlight.  

Commenting on Mourabet’s work, Timothy Warrington, of the International Confederation of Art Critics describes him as “a true artist, possessing a rare ability to stimulate viewers as he conveys artistic ideas that are communicated and encapsulated as a direct consequence of an inner journey that explores the very essence of beauty through shape, colour and the essential relationship between forms”. 

Mourabet’s work has been exhibited extensively in Lebanon and abroad. Recent events include a solo exhibition, held in 2024, at Portico Gallery, Kent, UK. Earlier solo shows took place at: Galerie Shammas, Paris (1993); AUB Alumni Club, Beirut (1992); Arab Cultural Club, Saida (1991); AUB Alumni Club, Beirut (1991); Spring Gallery, Saida (1990); an event in Los Angeles (1988).

Mourabet has also taken part in several group exhibitions and art fairs, including, most recently: Fresh Art Fair, Alexandra Palace, London (2025); ‘Vibrant Colour’ and ‘Summer Haze’, No Naked Walls, Guildford, Surrey, UK (2024);  Affordable Art Fair, Battersea, London, with No Naked Walls (2024); Fresh Art Fair, Cheltenham, UK, with No Naked Walls (2024); Fresh Art Fair, Ascot, with No Naked Walls (2023); The Other Art Fair, The Truman Brewery, London (2023); R Young Gallery, Wokingham, Reading (2023); ‘Journeys Through Colour’, The Whitehouse Gallery, Kirkcudbright, Scotland (2022); Affordable Art Fair with No Naked Walls, (2022); Surrey Spring Online Fair, UK (2021); Art Fair East, Sussex, UK (2019); New Artist Fair, Truman Brewery, London (2019); Brick Lane Gallery, London (2019); Architects’ Syndicate, Lebanon (1994); and Omar Al Mukhtar Center, Lebanon (1991).

In addition to painting and architecture, Mourabet also worked as a caricaturist for a daily newspaper and two weekly magazines in Abu Dhabi from 1978 to 1980. Images of his paintings have been used on promotional material by the United Nations Unicef organization and the Lion’s Club for fundraising events.