Juliana Séraphim

Juliana Séraphim (1934-2005) was an award-winning Palestinian artist who was born in Jaffa. Together with her family, she fled to Sidon in Lebanon by boat in 1949, as part of the first wave of displaced refugees, before settling in Beirut.

Deeply affected by these events, Séraphim worked for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for several years. During this time, she took art lessons from the Lebanese painter Jean Khalife, with her first exhibition taking place in his studio.

Séraphim enrolled at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts and then furthered her studies abroad at the Royal Academy of San Fernando in Madrid and in Florence, after gaining scholarships to do so. 

Séraphim formed part of the first group of Palestinian artists who began their practice in exile and, while her work is clearly inspired by her homeland, unlike many of her peers, she chose not to directly focus on political issues. Instead, Sérpahim’s art takes the form of dreamlike, free-flowing, surreal compositions, created in mixed media, including etchings and works in oil on canvas.

Sources of inspiration include her grandfather’s home in Jerusalem and the Jaffa seashores. However, Séraphim was also heavily influenced by the city life she experienced in Beirut, at a time when the social, political and artistic movements were gaining traction, especially women’s rights. 

Séraphim’s motifs ranged from mystical blooms and the female body, sensual and at times bordering on the erotic, with the two sometimes morphing into each other. These thought-provoking works prompt audiences to ponder on the complex issues relating to gender struggles and women’s rights and identity in a changing world. Other topics include mystical, magical cityscapes and utopias, marked by towers, spirals and arches. Relaying fragility and nostalgia, these artworks instil a sense of nostalgia, conveying the idea that these memories are both cherished and perhaps, inevitably patchy, given the length of time Séraphim has spent away from her birthplace.

In 1961, Séraphim took part in the first edition of the Salon d’Automne exhibition at the Sursock Museum, which proved pivotal in launching her lengthy career. In the following years, her work was exhibited extensively across the decades. Some of her high-profile solo shows include events at: Station des Arts Gallery, Beirut (1993, 1992); Hotel Chahba-Cham Art Gallery, Damascus, Syria (1991); Khayal Gallery, Ehden (1990); Amadis Art Gallery, Madrid (1989); Galerie La Toile, Rimal, Beirut (1989, 1988, 1987); Galerie Art 3, Paris (1985); Suzanne Ponds Art Gallery, Cannes (1983); Galerie Bekhazi, Beirut (1983, 1981); Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts, Amman (1980); and Alef Art Gallery, Kuwait (1980).

Among the many group exhibitions her work featured in are: ‘Beirut and the Golden Sixties: A Manifesto Of Fragility’, Mathaf, Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar (2023); ‘Lebanon Modern, Les Artistes Femmes au Liban’, curated by Pascal Odile, at the Beirut Art Fair (2016); ‘Tajreed’, CAP Kuwait (2013); ‘Art from Lebanon’, Beirut Exhibition Centre, Beirut (2012); Salon D’Automne, Sursock Museum, Beirut (1997); Fine Arts Museum, Sharjah, UAE (1996); Al-Majlis Gallery, Dubai (1995); Intercontinental Hotel, Bahrain (1995); Salon du Printemps, Beirut (1995); and the National Museum of Kuwait (1995).

Séraphim also represented Lebanon in three biennials, namely: São Paulo (1967); Paris (1963); and Alexandria (1962). She won several awards, including: the Florence Prize, Italy; the Prize of the Ministry of National Education, Lebanon; and the Second Prize for Foreigners at the City of Viarregio, Italy. 

Her work is found in several prestigious public and private collections, from the MET, New York, the Sursock Museum, Beirut and the Musée du Suréalisme, Paris to the Institut du Monda Arabe, Paris, the Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE and Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts, Amman, Jordan. Séraphim lived between Paris and Beirut.