Rafic Charaf is associated with the Lebanese generation of avant-garde artists that emerged after the Second World War, which included Etel Adnan and Saloua Raouda Choucair. His art training in Spain provided him with insight into Picasso’s oeuvre and many of Chafic’s early works are clearly influenced by his style. Following the defeat of the 1967 war, Charaf produced a series of works, the Antar series, that adopted the style of popular folkloric paintings found on decorative wares in Damascus souqs. The series depicts Antar, the legendary 6th Century Arab warrior and poet and his romantic love, Abla.

As a Shiite Muslim married to a Maronite Christian, Charaf put aside sectarian differences. He actively supported the Palestinian cause and produced artworks and posters for the PLO amid the Lebanese Civil War. His landscapes from the 1960s feature dark and barren scenes. His paintings of nudes, intimate scenes of lovers, and reflections on social conditions built his reputation as a provocative artist who sought to break away from conventions.

Hailing from a family of blacksmiths of modest means, he received scholarships to attend the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts and later studied at the San Fernando Royal Academy in Madrid from 1955 to 1957. By 1960, he completed a residency cat the Piettro Vanucci Academy in Perugia in Italy. An integral figure in Lebanese modernism, Rafic was an active participant in the literary and intellectual life of Beirut’s café scene.