Abdulqader Al Rais: Al Nayed

A retrospective for one of the artists who have played a central role in shaping the UAE’s modern visual identity, featuring work from a career spanning more than five decades. Bridging heritage and modernity with authority, Al Rais’s paintings draw deeply on Emirati heritage, Islamic culture, and the interplay between the UAE’s natural landscapes and architecture. As the gallery puts it, “Al Nayed captures the cultural transformation of the UAE without nostalgia”.

The exhibition include rare works from the artist’s private collection and a selection of previously unseen new work, but also draws substantially from five of the artist’s best known series – Alghaf, inspired by the ghaf tree, a national symbol of the UAE; Calligraphy (Hurufiyya), where Arabic letters function as visual and spiritual forms; Impressionism, early depictions of UAE landscapes rendered with soft, atmospheric brushstrokes; Alhaa, a distinctive series of watercolours on paper; and Abstract, which combines geometric elements with landscape compositions.

To 8 April.

Above: Abdulqader Al Rais, Untitled, from Serenity Series (2016). Below: Abdulqader Al Rais, My Dubai (2014)