فير زملر غاليري Sfeir-Semler Gallery

Etel Adnan

Etel Adnan (b. 1925, Beirut, Lebanon – d. 2021, Paris, France) is widely recognized as one of the foremost authors, poets and playwrights of her generation. Widely known for her literary work, she fluidly moves between the disciplines of writing and art.

Her paintings rose to prominence following their exhibition at dOCUMENTA 13 (2012); and she has had solo exhibitions at Ithra: The King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, Dhahran (2024); K20, Düsseldorf (2023); Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (2022); Lenbachhaus, Munich (2022); Mudam, Luxemburg (2019); SFMoMA, San Francisco (2018); Zentrum Paul Klee, Switzerland (2018); the Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris (2016); UNAM, Mexico City (2017); Serpentine Sackler Gallery, London (2016); Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich (2015); Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Austria (2014); and Mathaf, Doha (2014). As well as group exhibitions at Castello di Rivoli, Italy (2017); MoMa, New York (2017); Sharjah Biennial 12 (2015); the 14th Istanbul Biennial (2015); the Whitney Museum of Modern Art (2014). Read more

She has works in private collections as well as many public collections around the world such as MoMa, New York; Centre Pompidou, Paris; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Kunstsammlung NRW; Royal Jordanian Museum; LaM, Lille; Guggenheim, Abu Dhabi; Mathaf, Qatar; Sursock Museum, Beirut; Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris; the British Museum, London; Kunsthaus Zurich; and the National Museum for Women in the Arts, Washington DC. Adnan also has tapestries in public spaces and private collections. Slides of her tapestries are in the permanent files of the Contemporary Crafts Museums of New York and Los Angeles.

1/6Etel Adnan, Persian, 1963-64, oil on canvas, 38.5 × 50.5 cm
2/6Etel Adnan, Motion, 1980–89/2012, super-8mm-to-digital, 92 min (still)
3/6Etel Adnan, Désert Rose, 2019/2019, wool tapestry, synthetic dyes, handwoven by Les Ateliers Pinton d’Aubusson-Felletin, 155 × 200 cm
Untitled, 2020, Oil on canvas, 33.5 x 41 cm
4/6Etel Adnan, Untitled, 2020, oil on canvas, 33.5 × 41 cm
5/6Etel Adnan, Untitled, 2020/2024, 96 handmade ceramic tiles, 320 × 480 cm × 2 cm, unique
6/6Etel Adnan, Untitled, 2021, ink on canvas, 24 × 33 cm

Selected Press

Gallery Exhibitions

Exhibitions Beyond

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2026

  • Au coeur du silence, Galerie Lelong Matignon, Paris, France

2025

  • Zum Hundertsten, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany

  • Etel Adnan: On Paper, 1960 – 2021, Galerie Lelong, New York, USA

  • This Beautiful Light, White Cube New York, New York, USA

2024

  • Between East and West, Ithra: The King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

  • Notte al Palazzo, La Tinaia al Bosco, San Casciano in Val di Pesa, Italy

2023

  • Poetry of Colours, K20 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Germany

  • Painting into Space, The Bass, Miami, USA

2022

  • Etel Adnan, Lenbachhaus, Munich, Germany

  • Colour as Language, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

  • Etel Adnan, Musée des Tapisseries, Aix-en-Provence, France

  • Etel Adnan: Landscapes, VETA Galeria, Madrid, Spain

  • Hans-Ulrich Obrist Archives - Chapter 2: Etel Adnan, LUMA Arles, Arles, France

2021

  • Etel Adnan: New Works, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany

  • Etel Adnan: Behind the Horizon Line, Centro de Creación Contemporánea de Andalucía, Córdoba, Spain; TEA enerife Espacio de las Artes, Tenerife, Spain

  • Etel Adnan: Light’s New Measure, Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA

  • Impossible Homecoming, Pera Museum, Istanbul, Turkey

2020

  • The uprising of colors, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon

  • Seasons, Galerie Lelong, New York, USA

2019

  • Départ, Institute of Modern Art, Nuremberg, Germany

  • Etel Adnan et le Modernes, MUDAM: Musée d’art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxemburg City, Luxemburg

  • Each Day Is A Whole World, Aspen Art Museum, Colorado, USA

2018

  • New Work: Etel Adnan, SFMoMA: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, USA

  • Etel Adnan, Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, Switzerland

  • A Yellow Sun A Green Sun A Yellow Sun A Red Sun A Blue Sun, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, Massachusetts, USA

  • Etel Adnan: The dazzling gesture, Fondation Jan Michalski, Montricher, Switzerland

  • Etel Adnan: Tout ce que je fais est mémoire, Château La Coste, Le Puy-Sainte-Réparade, France

2017

  • Album à dessins, UNAM Mexico City, Mexico

  • Sea and Fog, Oakville Galleries in Gairloch Gardens, Ontario, Canada

  • Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations, Marseille, France

2016

  • Paintings • Drawings • Tapestry • Writing, Sfeir-Semler Gallery Hamburg, Germany

  • Etel Adnan, Institut du monde arabe, Paris, France

  • Etel Adnan: The Weight of the World, Serpentine Sackler Gallery, London, UK

2015

  • La joie de vivre, Haus Konstruktiv, Zürich, Switzerland

  • Etel Adnan, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland

2014

  • Writing Mountains, The Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Austria

  • Etel Adnan in All Her Dimensions, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar

  • Etel Adnan: Dessins, cipM: Centre International de Poésie, Marseille, France

2013

  • Etel Adnan, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon

  • Words and Places: Etel Adnan, Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco, USA

  • Voyage au Mont Tamalpais, Maison de la Poésie, Paris, France

2012

  • Etel Adnan: Works 1965–2012, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany

2010

  • Etel Adnan, Paintings and Drawings, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon

2007

  • Eileen Curtis Museum, Sausalito, California, USA

2006

  • Arte Mare, Bastia, Corsica, France

1998

  • Salazar Gallery, University of California, Sonoma, California, USA

  • Etel Adnan: Artist's Books, Darat al Funun, Amman, Jordan

Selected Group Exhibitions

2026

  • Celebrating the Icons of Art, Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar, Netherlands (forthcoming)

  • Outerworlds, Asia Society Texas, Texas, USA

  • The Nabi Shock, Waddington Custot, Paris France

  • In Absence and in Presence: Works from the Sharjah Art Foundation Collection, Aranya Art Center, Qinhuangdao, China

  • Seeing Words, Reading Images, The Written Art Collection in dialogue with the Deutsche Bank Collection, PalaisPopulaire, Berlin, Germany

  • Looking Outwards to Look Inwards, Victoria Miro, Venice, Italy

  • Arduna, Our Land, Contemporary Art Museum in AlUla, in collaboration with the Centre Pompidou and the French Agency for AlUla Development, AlUla, Saudi Arabia

  • Anywhere is My Land, Rahaal, Institute of Arab and Islamic Art, Ras Brouq, Qatar

  • In Interludes and Transitions, Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale, JAX District, Diriyah, Saudi Arabia

  • Etel Adnan and Seundja Rhee: To meet the sun, White Cube Seoul, Seoul, South Korea

  • Etel Adnan and Giorgio Morandi. Vibrations, Museo Morandi, Bologna, Italy

2025

  • Sweeter than Honey. A Panorama of Written Art, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany

  • Geometric Abstraction, B&M Theocharakis Foundation for the Fine Arts and Music, Athens, Greece

  • Shifting the Silence, Lenbachhaus, Munich, Germany

  • The Shade, Sfeir-Semler Gallery Karantina, Beirut, Lebanon

  • Faire Foyer: Sarah Crowner in Dialogue with Etel Adnan, Bass Museum, Miami Beach, USA

  • Dream City Festival, Tunis, Tunisia

  • IN ATTENDANCE – Paying Attention in a ragile World, Fitzrovia Chapel, London, UK

  • Flesh Flowers, Aïshti Foundation, Beirut, Lebanon

2024

  • Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere, La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy

  • Sounds Like a Whisper, Sofia City Art Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria

  • Arab Presences. Modern Art and Decolonisation: Paris 1908-1988, Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris, France

  • Home Works 9: A Forum on Cultural Practices. Intimate Garden Scene (in Beirut), organized by Ashkal Alwan, Sursock Museum, Beirut, Lebanon

  • Probité de l’image, La Biennale d’Anglet, Villa Beatrix Enea, Anglet, France

  • The Journey Before Me: Etel Adnan, Michelle Blade, Kirsty Luck, Marin MOCA, California, USA

2023

  • The Assault of the Present on the Rest of Time, Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin, Germany

  • Beirut and the Golden Sixties, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar

  • L'Amour, La mer, Les Femmes, Villa Noaille, Toulon, France

  • In the Heart of Another Country: The Diasporic Imagination Rises, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE

  • Endless, MCA Chicago: Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Illinois, USA

  • Etel Adan & Simone Fattal: Voices Without Borders, KINDL – Centre for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany

2022

  • Manifesto of fragility: Beirut and The Golden Sixties, 16th Biennale de Lyon, Lyon, France

  • In The Heart of Another Country, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Germany

  • Beirut and the Golden Sixties: A Manifesto of Fragility, Gropius Bau, Berlin, Germany

  • Color As Program, Bundeskunsthalle Bonn, Germany

  • Etel Adnan & Simone Fattal: Working Together, Fondazione Antonio Dalle Nogare, Bolzano, Italy

  • "H" 100 seconds to midnight, Thalia Theater, Hamburg, Germany

  • Museum in Motion, M HKA: Museum of Contemporary Art, Antwerp, Belgium

  • Art is the Antidote, Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar, Netherlands

2021

  • Another Energy: Power to Continue Challenging, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan

  • Women in Abstraction, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France

  • The Impermanent Display, LUMA Foundation, Arles, France

  • Shirin Neshat. Living in one Land, Dreaming in another, Pinakothek der Moderne, München, Germany

  • Writing is drawing, Centre Pompidou-Metz, Metz, France

  • EURASIA − A Landscape of Mutability, M HKA: Museum of Contemporary Art, Antwerp, Belgium

  • How will it end?, Boghossian Foundation – Villa Empain, Brussels, Belgium

  • Etel Adnan and Lynn Marie Kirby: THE WEATHER IS NOWADAYS CRAZY, Cushion Works, San Francisco, USA

2020

  • A sun yellow with anger, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany

  • Taking Shape: Abstraction from the Arab World 1950s–1980s, Grey Art Gallery, NYU, USA

  • Where Do You Want Ghosts to Reside?, Southern Exposure (SoEx), San Francisco, USA

  • There where we promenade, Freelands Foundation, London, UK

  • HUMAN CAPITAL, Innsbruck International Biennial of the Arts, Innsbruck, Austria

  • Another Energy: Power to Continue Challenging - 16 Women Artists from around the World, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan

  • Transformaciones - Mujeres Artistas Entre Dos Siglos, Fundación CajaCanarias, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain

2019

  • At the still point of the turning world there is the dance, Sursock Museum, Beirut, Lebanon

  • Downtown Painting, Peter Freeman, New York, USA

  • Luogo e Segni, Palazzo Grassi, Punta della Dogana, Venice, Italy

  • Sophie Whettnall – Etel Adnan, Centrale, Brussels, Belgium

  • Le Monde N'est Pas Nécessairement Un Empire, Lille Métropole Musée d’Art Moderne, d’Art Contemporain et d’Art Brut, Lille, France

  • So wie wir sind 1.0, Weserburg Museum für moderne Kunst, Bremen, Germany

  • A a Plume au Pinceau, au Crayon: Dessins du Monde Arabe, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France

  • Climbing through the tide, Kamel Lazaar Foundation, Tunis, Tunisia

2018

  • Lydia Cabrera and Édouard Glissant: Trembling Thinking, Americas Society, New York, USA

  • Acts of Translation, Mohammad and Mahera Abu Ghazaleh Foundation, Amman, Jordan

  • Hot Sun, Late Sun, Fondation Vincent Van Gogh, Arles, France

  • Garden of Memory, Musee Yves Saint Laurent, Marrakech, Morocco

  • Painting the Night, Centre Pompidou Metz, France

  • Lettres Ouvertes: de la Calligraphie au Street-Art, Institut des Cultures de l'Islam, Paris, France

  • Focus 2, Mathaf, Doha, Qatar

  • Melancholia, Boghossian Foundation, Brussels, Belgium

  • Le Monde Arabe Vu Par Ses Artistes, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France

  • This is the Gallery and the Gallery is Many Things II, Eastside Projects, Birmingham, UK

  • Die Biënnale van de Schilderkunst: Over landschappen, Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Belgium

2017

  • Etel Adnan/Gerhard Richter, Flag Art Foundation, New York, USA

  • L’emozione dei COLORI nell’arte, Castello di Rivoli, Italy

  • Making Space: Women Artists and Postwar Abstraction, MoMA: Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA

  • Delirium & Destiny, A Tale of a Tube, Rotterdam, Netherlands

  • WheredoIendyoubegin - On Secularity, Göteborg International Biennal of Contemporary Art, Sweden

  • Home Beirut. Sounding the Neighbors, MAXXI, Rome, Italy

  • From Ear to Ear to Ear, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham, UK

  • All the words for rock: Nature and Conflict, Visual Arts Center Fondacion Helga de Alvear, Caceres, Spain

  • Take Me (I’m Yours), Pirelli Hangar Bicocca, Milan, Italy

  • Three Women: Three Eyes on the World, EAP Centre d’Art Contemporain, Chatellerault, France

  • 100 Masterpieces of Modern and Contemporary Arab Art: The Barjeel Collection, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France

2016

  • Towards a Larger World, Moderna Museet, Malmö, Sweden

  • Looking at the World Around You, Fundación Santander, Madrid, Spain

  • do it, Darat al Funun, Amman, Jordan

2015

  • Liberated Subjects: Present Tense, Foundation de 11 Lijnen, Oudenburg, Belgium

  • SALTWATER: A Theory of Thought Forms, 14th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey

  • Interdependence, Manchester International Festival, Manchester, UK

  • Intimacy in Discourse, Mana Contemporary, New Jersey, USA

  • Nel Mezzo del Mezzo, Palazzo Riso - Museo d’Arte Contemporanea della Sicilia, Palermo, Italy

  • Follia Continua!, Le CENTQUATRE, Paris, France

  • Albert the kid is ghosting, The David Roberts Art Foundation, London, UK

  • Too Early, Too Late. Middle East and Modernity, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna, Italy

  • Sharjah Biennial 12: the past, the present, the possible, Sharjah International Art Biennial, Sharjah, UAE

  • Looking Back/The 9th White Columns Annual - Selected by Cleopatra's, White Columns, New York, USA

  • Take me (I'm yours), Monnaie de Paris, Paris, France

2014

  • 77th Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA

  • Rose, CEAAC Centre Europeen D’Actions Artistiqes Contemporaines, Strasbourg, France

  • Extinction Marathon: Visions of the Future, Serpentine Sackler Gallery, London, UK

  • Here and Elsewhere, New Museum, New York , USA

  • this secret world that exists right there in public, Rampa, Istanbul, Turkey

  • Was wir zeigen wollen, Heidelberger Kunstverein, Heidelberg, Germany

  • The Sea - Salut D’honneur Jan Hoet, PMMK - Museum voor Moderne Kunst, Oostende, Belgium

  • What Remains: Part II, Rose Issa Porjects, London, UK

  • The Printed Room: read the room/you’ve got to, SALTS, Birsfelden, Switzerland

  • A Special Arrow Was Shot In The Neck, David Roberts Art Foundation, London, UK

2013

  • Tajreed. A Selection of Arab Abstract Art. Part I 1908 – 1960, Contemporary Art Platform, Shuwaikh Industrial, Kuwait

  • Here, elswhere / Ici, ailleurs, Marseille-Provence, France

  • Hiwar, Conversations in Amman, Darat al Funun, Amman, Jordan

2012

  • dOCUMENTA 13, Kassel, Germany

  • Art from Lebanon - Modern and Contemporary artists: 1880–1975, Beirut Exhibition Center, Beirut, Lebanon

  • De Menocchio, nous savons beaucoup de choses, Bétonsalon, Paris, France

  • On the Edgware Road, Serpentine Gallery, London, Unk

  • The Art of Friendship, New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut, USA

2011

  • The Last Grand Tour, Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens, Greece

2009

  • Tafsir, Martin Gropius Bau Museum, Berlin, Germany

2007

  • The Dance of Quill and Ink, Contemporary Art of the Middle East, L’Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia

  • The Dance of Quill and Ink, Contemporary Art of the Middle East, The State Museum of Oriental Art, Moscow, Russia

2006

  • Word into Art: Artists of the Modern Middle East, British Museum, London, UK

2004

  • Palazzo Reale, Napoli, Italy

2003

  • Tawashujat: Between Poet and Artist, Jordan National Gallery, Amman, Jordan

  • Musée Municipal de Thionville, France

2001

  • L’art du Livre Arabe, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, France

1998

  • London Artists’ Book Fair, Barbican Center, London, UK

1997

  • Fine Arts Gallery, University of Arkansas, Lafayette, Arkansas, USA

  • London Artists’ Book Fair, Barbican Centre, London, UK

1996

  • André Demedthuis, Wielsbeke, Belgium

  • Book Art VIII, National Museeum for Women in the Arts, Washington DC, USA

1995

  • Le Arie del Tempo, Studio Alaya, Genoa, Italy

  • Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, USA

1994

  • 4 Women artists, Alif Gallery, Washington DC, USA

  • Forces of Change, National Museum for Women in the Arts, Washington D.C., USA

1993

  • André Demedthuis, Wielsbeke, Belgium

1991

  • Unesco, Paris, France

  • 20 ans, 20 artistes, L’Atelier, Rabat, Morocco

  • Mediatheque, Mureaux, France

  • Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France

1990

  • Evenements urbains, Grenoble, France

  • Villa Croce, Genoa, Italy

Selected Publications

1997

  • Adnan, Etel. "There In the Light and the Darkness of the Self and of the Other." Sausalito: The Post-Apollo Press.

1990

  • Adnan, Etel. "The Spring Flowers Own & The Manifestations of the Voyage." Sausalito: The Post-Apollo Press.

1989

  • Adnan, Etel. "The Arab Apocalypse." Sausalito: The Post-Apollo Press.

1986

  • Adnan, Etel. "Journey To Mount Tamalpais." Illustrated by Etel Adnan. Sausalito: The Post-Apollo Press.

1985

  • Adnan, Etel. "The Indian Never Had a Horse & Other Poems." Illustrated by Russell Chatham. Sausalito: The Post-Apollo Press.

1982

  • Adnan, Etel. "Sitt Marie-Rose." Translated by Georgina Kleege. Sausalito: The Post-Apollo Press.

  • Adnan, Etel. "From A To Z." Sausalito: The Post-Apollo Press.

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