L'Orientaliste

Pigeon Rocks Beirut - My Inspiration behind this Painting

Lebanon is the most beautiful country in Middle East. It’s landscape is idyllic and diverse and has the tallest mountains of the region, skiing resorts, large forests, green fields and beautiful seaside.

One interesting landmark in Raouche are the eye catching, Iconic pair of rocks known as Pigeons' Rock, 

Raouché ( الروشة‎), is a residential and commercial neighbourhood in Beirut. The area is known for it’s upscale apartment buildings, various restaurants and cliff-side cafés which line Avenue de Paris and forms part of the Corniche Beirut. 

Raouche is famous for it’s Pigeon Rocks, a 60-meter high offshore rock pair, which were formed in the prehistoric era by a geologic movement and been a feature of city life for more than 7,000 years.  The rocks sit like gigantic sentinels on the Mediterranean sea coast, a beautiful spot, especially during sunset. 

When I was young Lebanon was referred to as “Switzerland of the Middle East” before the civil war in the country. Today, the country is still enriched with social history and cultural memory. 

Despite the country’s scars from civil war during 1975 to 1990, it still remains beautiful today, offering a scenic haven for Artists to capture it’s enchantingly beautiful landscapes as they did back in the 19th century. 

But this much loved Mediterranean Middle Eastern jewel with it’s beautiful landmarks, I feel are still not widely recognised and appreciated which inspired me to show off the city’s beauty by exposing and painting this beautiful sparkling Mediterranean sunset scene of these iconic Raouche rocks on canvas to be enjoyed and shared worldwide.  Entitled: The Iconic Pigeon Rocks Raouche, Beirut (2018). 

Thank you.

The Artist.