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Abdulhalim Radwi is widely regarded as one of the founding figures of modern art in Saudi Arabia. Born in Mecca in 1939, his prolific career spanned painting, sculpture, and public art, but he is perhaps best known for his atmospheric cityscapes. These works often depict imagined or remembered urban environments, drawing on the layered architecture of the Hijaz region and the shifting forms of traditional Arab cities. Radwi’s cityscapes are characterised by a unique interplay of light, colour, and texture, combining expressive brushwork with geometric structure to convey both the spiritual resonance and material reality of the city.

Trained at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid and later active in Saudi Arabia and abroad, Radwi blended influences from European modernism with a distinctly regional vocabulary. His cityscapes reflect this synthesis: simultaneously abstract and architectural, they suggest both the visual memory of place and the emotional landscape of the artist. Many of his works evoke a dreamlike stillness, as though the city has been suspended in time, a space for contemplation, nostalgia, and cultural continuity amidst rapid change.

Radwi’s work has been exhibited internationally and is included in numerous significant public and private collections. Among them are Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha and Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah. His contributions to Saudi modernism are foundational, and his legacy continues to influence contemporary artists across the Gulf and wider Arab world.