Born in Syria and later based in Germany, Marwan Kassab Bachi (1934–2016) is most commonly known as Marwan. He began his artistic career painting landscapes before shifting his focus to the human face. His early portraiture often featured significant figures from the Arab world, such as political thinker Munif al Razzaz and contemporary poet Badr Shakir al Sayyab. Marwan later started painting his own face, allowing for a deeper exploration of psychological intensity and absurdist themes. Unlike the caricature-like quality of his earlier political portraits, these works are notably more melancholic. The figures—often solitary or in ambiguous relation to one another—appear suspended in a non-space, emphasised by Marwan’s muted, flesh-toned palette. In Untitled (1969), the ghostly presence of one figure with a blurred, almost abstract face contrasts with the sharp, introspective gaze of the seated man, presumably Marwan himself. The composition conveys a sense of quiet torment and interiority, drawing the viewer into a psychological landscape rather than a physical one.

^{*Currently exhibited at Christie's}