Death and Legacy
Wahbi Al-Hariri died on August 16, 1994, in Aleppo, Syria, the birthplace he had not visited for almost twenty years. Until the end he overtly maintained an optimistic view of his condition and remained driven and inspired by an unyielding thirst for "knowledge and constant search for beauty."
Following his death at the age of 80, a large number of his early oil paintings, watercolors, and photographs—some dating back to 1933—were found after having been saved from his initial studio fire. Several pieces underwent extensive restorations and some became part of a travelling retrospective exhibit.
- His 1994 obituary in The Washington Report reads:
Wahbi Al-Hariri-Rifai, a distinguished artist known as "the last of the classicists," died at the age of 80. He was the first Middle Easterner to study art formally in Italy and the first Muslim Arab to be awarded France's Beaux Arts Medal of Distinction.
- Lisa Kaaki writes:
The battles notwithstanding, his last years were prolific ones as he completed some 100 paintings and drawings in only four years.
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“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death M even death on a cross.”
—Bible: New Testament, Philippians 2:5-8.
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