Marwan Sahmarani, a Lebanese painter born in Beirut in 1970, lives and works between his native city and the mountain village of Tárbena in Spain. Educated within the post-war Lebanese artistic milieu, his work explores the intersections between history, emotion and corporeality. Drawing on expressionist traditions, Sahmarani employs vigorous brushwork and dense impasto to construct compositions where colour and gesture convey psychological and political tension. His paintings frequently address the cyclical nature of violence and the human propensity for destruction, transforming these themes into visual meditations on vulnerability and collective memory.

In Testimony of Fire (Triptych), Sahmarani translates the phenomenon of combustion into a meditation on transformation and impermanence. The work unfolds as a close focus on an erupting fire, where vibrant yellows collide with the muted patina of decay. Thick impastos form a visceral surface that captures both the intensity of heat and the transient nature of the inferno. Within this visual turbulence, the bushfire becomes a metaphorical dance of destruction — an impostor in its beauty — shifting from the vivid rhythms of life toward the haunting stillness of abstraction. The triptych thus embodies a tension between creation and dissolution, echoing Sahmarani’s enduring preoccupation with the fragile equilibrium between violence and renewal.

Sahmarani achieved international recognition in 2010 upon receiving the Abraaj Capital Art Prize and participating in Told/Untold/Retold at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha. His work has since been exhibited widely across Europe, North America and the Middle East, consolidating his reputation as a leading voice in contemporary Lebanese painting.