Google doodle on Louay Kayali, Syrian painter who spoke out of heart through paintings

Google today celebrates the 85^th birthday of modern renowned Syrian painter Louay Kayali with a stunning doodle. He was born on November 20, 1934.

Louay Kayali was born in Aleppo in Syria. He began painting when he was just 11 years old. He held his first exhibition at the age of 18 at Al-Tajhis Al-Oula School. He was also a student of the same school. He later moved to Italy in 1956 after being awarded a scholarship for advanced studies also studied art in the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, Italy.

Later, Louay Kayali joined the faculty of the Higher Institute for the Fine Arts in Damascus, Syria in 1962. Two years back from then in 1960, he went to Venice Biennale exhibition to represent Syria. Venice Biennale refers to an arts organization based in Venice and the name of the original and principal biennial exhibition the organization presents.

After joining Damascus-based Higher Institute for the Fine Arts, he started creating a tremendous impact on future generations of Syrian artists. He commenced a series of charcoal works in the mid of 1960s. During this period, he almost relinquished his previous way of paintings. Through his images, he started depicting the plight of humans like suffering, upheaval in the Arab world etc. But he was upset by scathing reviews of the show he hosted and declared that he would no longer paint. Thereby, he destroyed much of his works.

However, Louay Kayali returned to painting again and started creating new works in the 1970s. He also hosted another exhibition with another renowned Syrian painter Fateh al-Moudarres. Some say that he was suffering from depression and died of a tragic fire at the age of 44. We remember Kayali on his 85^th birthday who was a passionate artist engrossed in painting what exact he saw and felt.