Mahmoud Said (Egyptian, 1897-1964)

"The sea is everywhere in my paintings in Egypt, in Lebanon, and in Greece. I painted the sea, and the sailors in Port Rashid in a strong circular violent movement, like the strong explosion resulting from the meeting of the sea with the Nile ... and also I painted the calmness and the serenity in another work called Around Cleopatra's Bath in Marsa Matrouh, and many other paintings where the sea is the key element in all of them, and in my being and if it's not the subject of all of my paintings, it is at least in the background and the Nile in my country is called the Sea.. so if one contemplates my paintings enough you will definitely find a boat with its white sail , blown by the wind and going somewhere it's my everlasting journey " (translated from the Arabic, cited in Esmat Dawstashy, Mahmoud Said, Cairo 1997. p.256).