Nazem Al Jaafari

Nazem Al Jaafari (1918–2015) was a Syrian painter devoted to documenting Damascus through realistic and impressionistic art. A graduate of Cairo’s Faculty of Fine Arts (1947), he captured the city’s people, architecture, and daily life in thousands of works, aiming to preserve its heritage. After a dispute in 1951 over a shared art prize, he distanced himself from the local art scene and exhibited abroad. Though later honored with a 2006 retrospective in Damascus, his wish for a museum in his name went unfulfilled. Before his death, most of his works were reportedly sold to a Lebanese patron.