Paintings that highlighted the historical opening of Egypt’s Suez Canal in 1869

CAIRO – 16 November 2021: The opening of the Suez Canal was not an ordinary event. It was rather a huge global event. 

Many Egyptian and foreign artists portrayed the event over the decades since the opening of the Suez Canal on November 16, 1869. 

In the following lines, ET highlights the most important of these paintings.

 

Painting of the Egyptian artist Abdel Hadi El-Gazzar:
 

The painting, dating back to 1965 and created by the Egyptian artist Abdel Hadi El-Gazzar, was commissioned by the Maritime Museum in Alexandria in honor of the thousands of workers who participated in digging the canal from 1859 to 1869. This painting was sold at Christie's auction in Dubai for over $1 million.

 

Painting of Austrian artist Albert Ziegler:

Austrian artist Albert Ziegler created an oil painting of the Suez Canal in 1864. The artist is a student of the famous painter Giuseppe Rieger. He was also influenced by many works of German artist Bernhard Fiedler. Ziegler's favorite painting subjects were that of landscapes.  

In 1838, he lived with his family in Vienna, and his works were exhibited in many exhibitions in Munich and Paris, such as the Altenburg Museum and the Wroclaw Museum.

 

Painting of the Egyptian artist Hamed Owais:
 

The artist Hamed Owais drew the painting titled "The Leader & the Nationalization of the Canal" in 1957, using oil on canvas. The painting shows late President Gamal Abdel Nasser among crowds of Egyptians, on the bank of the Suez Canal, pointing to them with his hand.

In this painting, the artist Hamed Owais chose to amplify the figure of Gamal Abdel Nasser, and focus on his  features so that it dominates the image space, as a metaphorical size for the leader Abdel Nasser. Owais also highlighted the faces of the people who gathered around him, having huge smiles on their faces.

Owais' painting "The Leader & the Nationalization of the Canal" was sold at Christie's auction for more than AED2 million.