BRAFA | Sheikh Rashid Al Khalifa
In January 2026, TRIYAD curated the presentation of His Highness Sheikh Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa (b. 1952, Bahrain) at BRAFA Art Fair in Brussels, one of Europe’s oldest and most established art fairs. A leading contemporary artist from the Gulf and founder of the RAK Art Foundation, Sheikh Rashid took part in BRAFA for the first time.
The presentation centred on Spectrum XXIV (2025), from his ongoing Spectrum series. These convex aluminium reliefs explore repetition, geometry and colour, informed by architectural principles and Bahrain’s built environment. Light, surface and spatial perception act as structural elements, placing the work at the intersection of painting, sculpture and architecture.
Realised with Christophe Boon, director of Boon Gallery and vice president of BRAFA, the presentation placed the work in dialogue with Joan Miró, Henry Moore, Alighiero Boetti and Antony Gormley, within a fair shaped by exchange between historical, modern and contemporary practice.
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Born in 1952 in the Kingdom of Bahrain, Rashid Al Khalifa moved to the UK in 1972 to study at Hastings College of Arts and Technology in Sussex. Inspired by impressionism, and it was upon his return to Bahrain in 1978, that he began his own renditions of his country’s landscapes, producing a series of works of the desert, sea, and historical sites.
Such atmospheric landscape paintings mark the beginning of Rashid’s artistic career, which in the 1980s evolved to figurative works, whereby he merged elements of landscapes and the female form with fleeting mark-making. In the 1990s, his style of painting underwent a noticeable change, nonetheless romantic, as he began to incorporate foliage, pattern and a darker colour palette.
Rashid shifted his attention again in the early 2000s, towards the formation of the convex canvas, further abstracting forms on the surface which resulted in a synthesis of colour and gesture. In the late 2000s, he began to experiment with totally different materials, frequently dictated by the sculptural form of the convex, which led to a much more minimalistic style. It was then that he began to engage the smooth façade that his chosen material aluminium, offered. Rashid continued to consider and equate the susceptibility, mechanics and geometric processes involved in certain aspects of the designs and architecture that he visualized in Bahrain’s ever-changing landscape, and he quickly began to incorporate these findings into his practice. His resulting works from 2015 onwards are indeed inherent of a certain dichotomy; they are powerful and dominating, but concurrently effortless, delicate and meditative.
Rashid’s oeuvre is in many ways defined by its diversity in terms of style and medium. However, there is an undercurrent that flows through decades of creative work, driven by his desire to develop and evolve. In many respects, the stylistic transitions that define certain periods, reflect the changing landscape of his country and the passages of his life.
Recognized as the foremost patron of the arts in the Kingdom of Bahrain, Rashid currently holds the position of Chairman of the National Council for Arts, Bahrain. An avid art collector, he established a foundation in his name in 2020. Located in Riffa, Bahrain, The RAK Art Foundation is dedicated to empowering artists by providing opportunities; encouraging cross-cultural collaborations and exchange; and fostering international partnerships.
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