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Lot Essay
“For me the olive tree is both a national and artistic symbol; it reflects the nature and beauty of Palestine – our traditions, culture, poems and songs are often centred around the tree.” – Nabil Anani (D. Kuttab, “How the Olive Tree Came to Symbolise Palestinian National Identity”, in Arab News, November 2021).
Jerusalem Landscape is an iconic canvas from Nabil Anani’s poetic engagement with the Palestinian landscape. A vast panorama unfolds towards the horizon, where rolling hills, cultivated fields, olive groves and the Old City of Jerusalem stretch across the composition in successive layers, recalling the agricultural terraces of the Palestinian countryside. In the foreground stands a solitary, deeply rooted olive tree, its robust trunk rising upwards before branching into dense green foliage. Rather than dominating the composition, the tree appears firmly anchored within its surroundings, occupying its place with a quiet sense of permanence.
The landscape is imbued with a profound sense of peace and serenity, standing in poignant contrast to the turbulent history endured by these lands. Anani’s sustained focus on the landscape is particularly significant: unlike objects that could be carried from one place to another, the physical landscape remained irrevocably tied to the homeland and could not be preserved through displacement. Here, Jerusalem appears in the distance, woven into the same continuous landscape, connecting the rural environment to a broader Palestinian geographical and cultural identity.
Anani presents the landscape as preserved, cultivated and uninterrupted, reinforcing a sense of land inhabited across generations rather than depicting the contemporary landscape marked by separation walls, checkpoints and settlements. This idyllic representation consequently evokes an idealised image of the homeland, drawing upon the consoling familiarity of the past while imagining a landscape beyond the divisions of the present. The vibrant palette lends the composition with a dreamlike, almost childlike quality, reflecting the importance of childhood memory in Anani’s reconstruction of an ideal homeland. The painting thus operates between memory and imagination: it is at once a recollection of a landscape and a vision of what that landscape might remain or become. With its exceptional provenance and inclusion in the artist's monograph, Jerusalem Landscape stands as a particularly significant and recognisable work within Anani's oeuvre.
Jerusalem Landscape originates from the prestigious Dalloul Collection, Beirut, founded by Dr Ramzi and Saeda Al Husseini Dalloul and now led by their son, Dr Basel Dalloul. With its roots in Palestine, the Dalloul family has maintained a particularly strong commitment to Palestinian art, reflected in the collection’s significant holdings of works by Palestinian artists. Spanning five decades, the collection reflects the artistic, political and cultural shifts of the Arab world and the family’s longstanding dedication to preserving and promoting Arab creativity.
Born in 1943 in Latroun, Palestine, Anani is a seminal figure in contemporary Palestinian art, known for his work as a painter, sculptor, and ceramicist. Experiencing the mass expulsion of Palestinians during 1948 and subsequent conflicts firsthand, Anani’s artistic vision has been deeply shaped by his connection to Palestinian history, culture, and collective memory. He studied fine arts at Alexandria University in Egypt, later earning a master’s in Islamic Archaeology at Al-Quds University, before returning to Palestine to teach and mentor emerging artists. A pioneer of the New Vision Movement, Anani explored innovative approaches that incorporated natural, locally sourced materials, emphasising a tangible connection to Palestinian land and heritage. Central to his work is the theme of the Palestinian motherland, often symbolised through the figure of women, traditional embroidery, and pastoral landscapes, reflecting both national identity and cultural continuity.
Beyond his artistic practice, Anani has played a pivotal role in cultivating Palestinian art institutions, co-founding the League of Palestinian Artists and contributing to the establishment of the International Academy of Art in Ramallah in 2006.
Jerusalem Landscape is an iconic canvas from Nabil Anani’s poetic engagement with the Palestinian landscape. A vast panorama unfolds towards the horizon, where rolling hills, cultivated fields, olive groves and the Old City of Jerusalem stretch across the composition in successive layers, recalling the agricultural terraces of the Palestinian countryside. In the foreground stands a solitary, deeply rooted olive tree, its robust trunk rising upwards before branching into dense green foliage. Rather than dominating the composition, the tree appears firmly anchored within its surroundings, occupying its place with a quiet sense of permanence.
The landscape is imbued with a profound sense of peace and serenity, standing in poignant contrast to the turbulent history endured by these lands. Anani’s sustained focus on the landscape is particularly significant: unlike objects that could be carried from one place to another, the physical landscape remained irrevocably tied to the homeland and could not be preserved through displacement. Here, Jerusalem appears in the distance, woven into the same continuous landscape, connecting the rural environment to a broader Palestinian geographical and cultural identity.
Anani presents the landscape as preserved, cultivated and uninterrupted, reinforcing a sense of land inhabited across generations rather than depicting the contemporary landscape marked by separation walls, checkpoints and settlements. This idyllic representation consequently evokes an idealised image of the homeland, drawing upon the consoling familiarity of the past while imagining a landscape beyond the divisions of the present. The vibrant palette lends the composition with a dreamlike, almost childlike quality, reflecting the importance of childhood memory in Anani’s reconstruction of an ideal homeland. The painting thus operates between memory and imagination: it is at once a recollection of a landscape and a vision of what that landscape might remain or become. With its exceptional provenance and inclusion in the artist's monograph, Jerusalem Landscape stands as a particularly significant and recognisable work within Anani's oeuvre.
Jerusalem Landscape originates from the prestigious Dalloul Collection, Beirut, founded by Dr Ramzi and Saeda Al Husseini Dalloul and now led by their son, Dr Basel Dalloul. With its roots in Palestine, the Dalloul family has maintained a particularly strong commitment to Palestinian art, reflected in the collection’s significant holdings of works by Palestinian artists. Spanning five decades, the collection reflects the artistic, political and cultural shifts of the Arab world and the family’s longstanding dedication to preserving and promoting Arab creativity.
Born in 1943 in Latroun, Palestine, Anani is a seminal figure in contemporary Palestinian art, known for his work as a painter, sculptor, and ceramicist. Experiencing the mass expulsion of Palestinians during 1948 and subsequent conflicts firsthand, Anani’s artistic vision has been deeply shaped by his connection to Palestinian history, culture, and collective memory. He studied fine arts at Alexandria University in Egypt, later earning a master’s in Islamic Archaeology at Al-Quds University, before returning to Palestine to teach and mentor emerging artists. A pioneer of the New Vision Movement, Anani explored innovative approaches that incorporated natural, locally sourced materials, emphasising a tangible connection to Palestinian land and heritage. Central to his work is the theme of the Palestinian motherland, often symbolised through the figure of women, traditional embroidery, and pastoral landscapes, reflecting both national identity and cultural continuity.
Beyond his artistic practice, Anani has played a pivotal role in cultivating Palestinian art institutions, co-founding the League of Palestinian Artists and contributing to the establishment of the International Academy of Art in Ramallah in 2006.