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To commemorate the 130th anniversary of the birth of writer Khalil Gibran, the Brazil-Lebanon Cultural Association and Arte A occupied the Latin America Memorial in Sao Paulo with a new exhibition of the work and life of this artist. A rich portrait of this great man, a wise and artistic genius, considered to be one of the great writers of the 20th century, but whose facet of artist, painter and designer – which predates his writer side – is as grand as his literary side, but very little known to his public. The “130 years of Khalil Gibran” exhibition brings together approximately 52 original paintings, including oil paintings and wash drawings, as well as documents, manuscripts, letters and some of Gibran’s personal objects, exclusively brought from his museum, in Lebanon. In addition, the exhibition has some literary works written by Gibran, especially the classic The Prophet, which has been translated into over 80 languages and is considered to be one of the 100 most important books in the world. It is possible to see the first edition of this work, which is extremely well preserved and contains notes hand written by the author throughout the book. The literary works of Khalil Gibran are known throughout the world for their Eastern mystic character, but also for being markedly romantic and inspired by Western classics, like the Bible, poet William Blake and philosopher Nietzsche. These influences can also be found in his drawings, especially those especially created by the author to illustrate one of the editions of his own book, The Prophet. Gibran has shown to be an extraordinary artist, a portraitist that expressed himself both in works that were symbolist in character and in those that were realistic in character, which are genres that reflect and communicate perfectly with his literary verve. Full of symbolism, just like Gibran’s work, is the fact that Brazil is the first country in Latin America to receive this material and the first to commemorate the date, since we are the country that has the largest number of Lebanese immigrants. A full connection of wisdom and meaning, in tune with the feeling of the world of this great artist.
