Self-portrait in her studio. (Credit: Photo taken from Rima Amyuni's website)
On her website, one of her very last works, "Arums in Shades," painted in 2021 in an almost monochrome palette of muted colors, already evoked her farewells to life.
A life in which bold, raw color, applied in thick strokes, transformed the pallor of the days.
Born in Lebanon in 1954, Rima Amyuni passed away at 71, on Wednesday, Jan. 14, following an illness that had prevented her in recent years from painting the lush panoramas of gardens, trees, and flowers she observed from her windows in Yarze.
A vibrant nature that inspired her ceaselessly, infinitely. And each time differently. Landscapes she painted for hours on end to soothe the pain of a certain inadequacy with the world. Dense, intensely colored paintings with a naive figurative style, which, while reflecting the extreme sensitivity of this inner being, radiate a chromatic energy that would bring her success.
Despite what the spontaneity of her visual language might suggest, Amyuni had a solid artistic education in Great Britain and the United States. In addition to a degree in fine arts obtained in 1978 at the Byam Shaw School of Art in London, followed by university studies at the British Council in the UK, she held a diploma from Columbia University in New York.
She also taught at Beirut University College, the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts, and the American University of Beirut (AUB).
Van Gogh syndrome
Back in the 1980s, in a Lebanon in the midst of turmoil and destruction, she instinctively took refuge in painting the small things of everyday life and nature. "She had the Van Gogh syndrome," said Amal Traboulsi, who would become her first gallerist in Lebanon.
"My partner, watercolorist Martin Giesen, discovered one of her canvases. The passion within her, which was reflected in her strong, vivid colors, straight from the tubes, quickly convinced me of her talent," she recalls.
Her art, with its singular style and unusual intensity, earned her the Sursock Museum prize at the 18th edition of the Autumn Salon in 1995.
From her cloistered life, Amyuni drew inspiration to imagine better worlds — both interior and exterior. This was evident in the exhibition shown in January 2015 at the Agial gallery, featuring her series of canvases titled "A Tribute to a House Fairy".
A work focused on the domestic activities of "house fairies," directly paying homage to the dedication of her housemaid.
Beyond these heartfelt portraits, what will remain of Amyuni are her gardens, her flowers, her trees, her eternal patches of blue sky, and even her Lebanese houses which, despite the joyful vibrancy of the tones, convey a vague uneasiness, a kind of ambivalence.
Between the expression of utter dazzlement and the feeling of omnipresent danger… That impression of a wild beast lurking in the shadows of a paradisiacal nature. And threatening this “great garden that holds its sky in its branches,” to borrow the title of the magnificent text by her friend, essayist Dominique Eddeh, which accompanied her very last exhibition, in 2023, at the Aida Cherfan gallery.
