Safwan Dahoul (Syrian, b. 1961)

The present painting is the only contemporary work in the collection of Mrs. Arlette Anhoury Sadat. Young Lady at the Window dated 1989, is an example from the earlier works of Safwan Dahoul, at a time when the artist used more vibrant colours as opposed to his later muted and neutral palette. Mrs. Anhoury Sadat discovered the present work during the artist's first solo exhibition at the Al Sayyed gallery in Damascus.

This delicate composition is enhanced by the use of bright red hues on the young Damascene girl's dress and the jasmine-coloured stars that surround her. It appears as a fine summer night, as the white flower blossom, filling the air with a mystifying fragrance. The girl's innocent look is illuminated by the crescent which just appeared, announcing the beginning of a fresh new month, alike the girl waiting for her destiny to blossom. This painting captures many of Dahoul's recurring themes of solitude, space, dreams, reality and freedom and reveals Mrs. Sadat's inner spirit.