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When Picasso wrote, ‘There is Egyptian genuineness in this talented painter’, he rightly foresaw one of the most compelling talents in twentieth-century Egyptian art. Rafi’s decision to retreat to France and shun public life, however, diminished his local popularity. A top art student, he first joined Art and Liberty at the tender age of 16 and shortly thereafter moved to the Contemporary Art Group, founded by Hussein Youssef Amin with Abdel Hadi el-Gazzar and Hamed Nada. His paintings are epic works presenting a metaphysical world that later showed signs of melancholy and homesickness.

Text: Fatenn Moustafa