Footnotes

Provenance:
Property from a prestigious private collection of Iraqi Art, Europe

Published:
Longing for Eternity: One Century of Modern and Contemporary Iraqi Art, Skira, Milan 2014

Through her rich visual language, blending mythology, memory, and metaphor, Suad Al-Attar has established herself as one of Iraq's most prominent and evocative painters. The works presented here each reflect a chapter in the artist's ongoing exploration of themes that span the personal and collective, the real and the dreamlike. Suad's practice was heavily inspired by Iraq's folkloric past which is steeped in imagery and motifs indicative of Mesopotamian history.

In Untitled (Blue Forest), Al-Attar turns to the natural world, though one steeped in surrealism and mystery. A moonlit forest, rendered in layers of cool blues and whites, evokes a meditative space that feels both real and otherworldly. Trees glow like spirits, their tangled branches alive with energy and introspection. The painting carries a sense of solitude and reflection, infused with the artist's signature blend of poetic symbolism and emotional depth.

In radiant contrast to her Untitled (Blue Forest) painting, Suad Al-Attar's Untitled (Garden of the Eden) is a luminous evocation of life, light, and myth, rendered in warm sandy tones and golden hues that recall the sun-drenched landscapes of Mesopotamia. This composition exemplifies Suad's intuitive layering of memory, nature, and imagination, where symbolic elements emerge not as literal depictions, but as fragments of an inner world in bloom. Taking her inspiration from gardens of paradise, birds, flowers, palm trees, orange trees and peacocks, Suad has created an alternative world in the fabric of dreams where souls could escape to. The painting is bathed with warmth and colour: a golden sun hovers overhead, casting its light across a landscape alive with meaning.