Marwan Kassab Bachi (1934-2016), known simply as Marwan, was a pioneering painter and educator. While studying Arabic literature at Damascus University in the mid-1950s, he focused on landscapes. However, his visual vocabulary began to evolve after moving to Berlin in 1957, where he enrolled in Hochschule für Bildende Künste and later served as professor from 1980 to 2002.In Germany, he was associated with the new figuration movement. Marked by a fusion of landscape and portraiture, Marwan’s post-surrealist paintings embody his deep preoccupation with the anguish and complexity of the human condition. By the 1970s, he turned his attention almost exclusively to faces; his works often depicted notable Arab figures, particularly political thinker Munif al Razzaz and contemporary poet Badr Shaker al Sayyab. His 1965 painting Munif al Razzaz, a caricature-like portrayal of the politician, conveys the vast terrain of human interiority through subtle gradients of colour and tone. The background reinforces the continuity of the artist’s visual language even as his subjects became more introspective and symbolic.