Egypt's Fine Arts Museum displays Khaled al-Zikr’s paintings

CAIRO - 21 April 2020: The Fine Arts Museum, affiliated to the Fine Arts Sector, continues to call on citizens to stay at home, commenting on their official Facebook page, “Stay home; we’ll bring the museum to you.”

On December 17, 1959, the Alexandria Biennale's third edition kicked off. This sad winter, on December 20, which marked the fourth day of the Biennale, Alexandria bid farewell to one of its most important art icons, Khaled al-Zikr (Ibrahim Adham Wanly), who died at fifty-one, leaving behind a great legacy of artwork.

One of Al-Zikr's famous artworks - ET
Zikr was mourned by Egypt's guests from Syria, Morocco, Lebanon, Spain, Yugoslavia, Italy and Greece, besides his Egyptian fans, especially the Alexandrians, who loved him dearly.

The third Alexandria Biennale is the last art exhibition Zikr has participated in. It is the same biennale in which Seif Wanly won the photography award. After Zikr’s demise, Seif’s sadness was immense and clearly reflected in his artwork, where black and dark colors dominated, despite being previously known for using bright colors in most of his artwork. After all, Seif had lost his soul mate; they were inseparable for 51 years.

Adham, before his death, accompanied by his older brother Seif at Mouwasat Hospital in Alexandria in 1959
Seif Wanly wrote a letter to Ahmed Youssef, the director general of the Fine Arts Sector in the late 1950s, requesting to include him and his brother among the recipients of the full-time grant, to help them with the costs of Zikr’s yellow fever treatment.

The letter was written on October 10, 1959, but fate did not allow Zikr to obtain the grant, as he passed away a little over two months later.