Sliman Mansour, a Palestinian painter known for chronicling six decades of his country's political history and social conditions, died in Jerusalem at age 79. His family announced the death on Instagram on Monday, August 24, following an earlier statement that the artist was in critical condition. The cause was not made public.
Mansour was born in 1947 in Birzeit, Palestine, months before the establishment of the State of Israel. Working from his studio in Ramallah in the West Bank, he created paintings documenting Palestinian life before Israeli occupation and the aftermath of military operations in Palestinian communities.
Throughout his career, Mansour was jailed, beaten, and threatened by Israeli authorities. In a 2023 interview with Hyperallergic, he said: "Anything that is Palestinian, even just being here, breathing and thinking, is a sensitive matter to the Israelis because they built their narrative around denying our existence. Our work not only as painters but as intellectuals — in culture, in everything — is to express that we are here."
His family wrote in an Instagram post that "to the world, he leaves behind a life filled with beauty, memory, and a legacy that will continue to live through all those he touched."
