Paul Guiragossian born in 1926 in Jerusalem, experienced the impact of exile from a very early age. In the late 1940s, the artists’ family - survivors of the Armenian Genocide - settled in Lebanon, and he began teaching art in private sessions and schools. The artist was soon after discovered for his art and was introduced to his contemporaries.

In 1956 Guiragossian was granted the first prize in a painting competition, which allowed him to receive a scholarship from the Italian Government to study at the Academia di Belle Arti di Firenze. In 1962, Guiragossian landed another scholarship by the French Government to paint at Les Atelier Des Maîtres De L’École De Paris. By the mid-’60s Guiragossian became one of the most celebrated artists in Lebanon. Although the war broke out in the early ‘70s, his attachment to Lebanon grew more prominent, and his artworks became more colorful with messages of hope for his people. In 1989, the artist went to Paris to exhibit his works at the UNESCO and resided in the city until 1991. Between 1989 and 1991, Guiragossian produced some of his largest artworks. At the end of that year, he displayed his works at the Institut du Monde Arab which extended into early 1992. Paul Guiragossian passed away in 1993 in Beirut.

Guiragossian’s works can be found in the most discerning public and private collections worldwide including institutional presence at The British Museum. London - Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou. Paris - Institut du Monde Arabe. Paris, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art. Doha, Modern Art Museum of Kuwait. Kuwait, Barjeel Art Foundation. Sharjah, Salama Bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation. Abu Dhabi, among many others.
“There is a dynamism that takes over the work of Guiragossian throughout this highly prolific period starting in the early 1960s and going into the 1970s which sees his earlier constellations of human figures, slowly but confidently, transform from clusters of huddled geometric formations, set within traces of recognizable physical spaces where the rules of perspective still more or less apply, to bold sweeping brushstrokes and paint batches, which while still marinating some anthropomorphic features, increasingly move away from representation and emerge from an abstract, often monochromatic void.”

Sam Bardaouil, Till Fellrath, Paul Guiragossian: Displacing Modernity: Silvana Editoriale, p 66. Courtesy Paul Guiragossian Foundation.