Sliman Mansour

Sliman Mansour was one of the most influential Palestinian artists whose work explores Palestinian identity, memory, land, displacement and resistance. Working with various materials, especially natural and found material like mud, clay, straw, henna, wood, and others, he combined symbolic imagery with scenes of everyday Palestinian life, often depicting the landscape, villages, olive trees, and figures connected to the land. His restrained and deeply symbolic compositions reflected his commitment to preserving Palestinian cultural memory and expressing a sense of belonging and resilience through art.

Born in Birzeit in 1947, Mansour studied at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem from 1967 to 1970. Since the 1970s, his work has been closely associated with the development of Palestinian contemporary art, and he became one of the central figures of the New Visions movement, which sought to develop an art practice rooted in Palestinian culture and local materials. He participated in numerous exhibitions in Palestine and internationally, and his work is held in major collections including the British Museum and the Palestinian Museum. Mansour lived and worked between Ramallah and Jerusalem, until his death in August 2026.