With its understated sense of discovery, Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa’s retrospective artwork of 40 years was like stumbling into a colourful daydream in which I was left with the mystery of my own perception.
Looking at his oeuvre reminds me of numerous tributaries flowing into a river, offering a variety of side trips for a change of pace and nature studies. These tributaries are like Rashid’s art, presenting a variety of visual expression for a change of pace and nature studies that flow into a river of colour where he conceives the world in terms of hues scarcely others can imagine.
In Rashid’s hands, colours are transformed to true art of exquisite refinement – multifaceted, technical, intellectual and emotional –handwritten in a language that is not language.
With colour, he creates expressions that might ultimately remain questionable and difficult, if not impossible, to put into words. It is a kind of emotional autobiography, translated in art and acknowledged in a language with fragile interpretive limits. No amount of education, exposure or even money can create an artist of living colours. These artists are rare. They are born not bred.
Shortly before his death, Picasso asked, “What is colour?” After 85 years of a relationship with colour he couldn’t define it.
For me, colour can be seen but it can never be felt. It can never be expressed. It is absorbed into a personal vision, charged with emotional inferences. It is a very personal thing that belongs only to special people, a special artist. Rashid is one of the chosen few.
Rashid is a born artist, and colour is his most salient affective attribute.
Beyond questions of representation, Landscape is where Rashid points us toward the sublime. He conveys not what he sees but that which is... his reality.
Born in a desert island, its luminous landscape is Rashid’s source of an ever-evolving autonomous colour harmony – an embrace that is violating and palpably, powerfully affectionate. Throughout his painted oeuvre there is a sort of circuitry through which his Abstract Colour Field, Figurative and even in his Individualist works correspond and suggest that colour persists and is central to Rashid’s aesthetic.
However, Rashid's persistent engagement with colours’potential to describe or imagine pictorial realms outside of, or just beyond, those of our rational world can be seen as increasingly pervasive. Taking a more general context of his art into consideration, perhaps it's even more compelling to consider Rashid's calculated illusionism.
In terms of grand-scale artwork, his colours reverberate in four dimension where he can walk in to physically live his colours, literally feel them, paint in them and at the same time look at one of his paintings hanging on the wall and feel more colours – his private studio, “a total work of art.”
The varied modernist traditions Rashid invokes in his artwork – in all medium of expression bring with them his sense of human consciousness. An appearance of human feelings in things that are inanimate, and only the emotion expressed in colours has a reality that could be shown and beheld.
When I was approached to analyse his work for a book, I searched my references in Middle Eastern art only to discover that Rashid was the artist whose sketch I saw four years ago in a magazine that left an imprint in my mind. It was a sketch where line and form flowed sinuously, that upon seeing it, I knew it was done by a real artist.
I never knew him personally. Putting the book together, gave me an opportunity to know him by looking at his artwork and analysing his creative mind and masterful techniques. And by reading his personal quotes, I had a deeper insight into his creative life.
It will be an honour and pleasure to meet Shaikh Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, a Bahraini living master, who has yet to receive his full due.
Modhir Ahmed, 2008 - Sweden
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
At age 14, Shaikh Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa was given a photo of the venerable millennium-old Khammis mosque and asked to paint it. He executed the painting in oil, receiving a great deal of satisfaction. Forty years ago at an annual high-school art exhibition in Isa Town, the teenager was surprised when one of the guests was the late Amir, Shaikh Isa bin Sulman Al Khalifa, accompanied by Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa bin Sulman Al Khalifa, who both showed genuine interest in the fledgling artist’s work.
Thirty-eight years ago, the shaikh made his real art debut by taking part in an exhibition at the Delmon Hotel which was then the country’s hub of social, recreational and cultural activities. The Amir felt that the budding artist should go to Britain for studies, to broaden his outlook on life and his art skills, with His Highness granting him a scholarship.
The following year, with Shaikh Isa’s words of encouragement and interest still fresh in his memory, he took off for England where, besides studies and absorbing life in Britain, he also participated in art exhibitions. Working principally in oil, he remained in that period primarily a landscape artist, joining the Ministry of Information art show in Singapore in 1980, continuing on to take part in other exhibitions in the Far East.
Consequently, his work was exhibited in France, Switzerland, the US (Miami and Washington) and Jordan with more recent shows in June 2006 in Paris and in December 2006 in Cairo. After initially being in a show at the Grand Palais in Paris in 1985 he’s returned several times to participate in art exhibitions.
Ajournalist from the Washington Times, a daily newspaper in the US, wrote, “It is always interesting to meet someone whose reputation precedes. Everyone in Bahrain speaks of Shaikh Rashid bin Khalifa as a man whose artistic ability and humanity entwine whenever his name is mentioned.”
Art is in his soul but public service has been part of his commitment for nearly a quarter of a century as assistant undersecretary for tourism and archaeology and in 1993 as undersecretary for immigration, passports and nationality. “I feel, given my experience both here and internationally and taking into account my innate sensitivity for art, it’s possible to apply that in my daily office life, work that I love.
“To improve the work environment and methods, creativity in management should be applied. I maintain that to be successful, whether in business or public life, you have to be creative,” Shaikh Rashid points out. Despite day-to-day administrative work, he still finds time to be in his studio, admitting that “painting provides a certain stability in my life.”
However, another turning point in his life was certainly his marriage to Shaikha Lulwa bint Khalifa Al Khalifa. With their six children –Abdulla, Aisha, Hessa, Khalifa, Mohammed and Noor – “the smiles and joy one encounters with the family add a distinct, refreshing breath into the meaning of life,” he says prosaically.
Aside from his passion for painting, Shaikh Rashid likes photography but especially actually collecting old cameras. “I love tinkering with the old cameras, appreciating sepia prints of bygone days, still feeling that black-and-white prints aren’t passé.” From Hawaii to the Far East, Shaikh Rashid also enjoys travelling.
When a score of artists banded together 24 years ago to form the Bahrain Arts Society, Shaikh Rashid was named its first president and continues as its honorary president. And as he moves into a challenging, new chapter into explorations in art, he’s been pondering how to implement a truly monumental 21st-century artwork that could take several months to execute.
Roy Kietzman
R ECENT W ORK
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Seizure. 2007. 193 x 185 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
A Homage to Fragmented Abstraction III . 2007. 168 x 168 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
A Fusion of Hues in Blue, Orange and Pink II . 2007. 195 x 193 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
40 years of painting
Pulse III . 2003.
60 x 60 cm. Oil on canvas
Pulse II . 2003. 60 x 60 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Pulse I. 2000. 168 x 168 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
40 years of painting
Pulse IV . 2003. 90 x 90 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Pulse V. 2003. 60 x 60 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
years of painting
Fusion of Hues in Blue, Crimson and Yellow I. 2003. 55 x 55 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Pulse VI . 2003. 55 x 55 cm. Oil on canvas
Fusion of Hues in Blue, Crimson and Yellow II . 2003. 55 x 55 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
40 years of painting
Pulse VII . 2006. 90 x 90 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Preserving Harmony I. 2006. 90 x 90 cm. Oil on canvas
20 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Preserving Harmony II . 2006. 60 x 60 cm. Oil on canvas
Preserving Harmony III . 2003. 60 x 60 cm. Oil on canvas
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Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Pulse VIII . 2006. 90 x 90 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
A Homage to Fragmented Abstraction II . 2006. 55 x 55 cm. Oil on canvas
Fusion of Hues in Green, Crimson and Umber. 2003. 60 x 60 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
A Fusion of Hues in Blue, Orange and Pink I. 2006. 55 x 55 cm. Oil on canvas
Preserving Harmony IV . 2006. 55 x 55 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
A Fusion of Hues in Green, Blue and Umber. 2001. 168 x 168 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
A Homage to Fragmented Abstraction I. 2003. 115 x 90 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
40 years of painting
Pulse IX . 2006. 90 x 90 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
40 years of painting
Pulse X. 2009. 55 x 55 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
40 years of painting
Pulse XI . 2009. 116 x 90 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Pulse XII . 2009. 170 x 190 cm. Oil on canvas
I NDIVIDUALISM
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
INDIVIDUALISM
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Metamorphosis I. 1996. 115 x 95 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Metamorphosis II . 1996. 96.5 x 96.5 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Metamorphosis IV . 1997. 100 x 120 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Metamorphosis V. 1998. 96 x 90 cm. Oil on canvas
35 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Metamorphosis VI . 1998. 120 x 95 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Figurative Landscape II . 1998. 137 x 131 cm. Oil on canvas
37 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Figurative Landscape I. 1997. 90 x 70 cm. Oil on canvas
38 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Metamorphosis VII . 1998. 145 x 120 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
years of painting
Figurative Landscape III . 1998. 145 x 115 cm. Oil on canvas
40 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Fragmented Abstraction III . 1998. 200 x 129 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
years of painting
Fragmented Abstraction I (1). 1998. 168 x 168 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
years of painting
Fragmented Abstraction I (2). 1998. 168 x 168 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
years of painting
Fragmented Abstraction I (3). 1998. 168 x 168 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Fragmented Abstraction II . 1997. 68 x 80 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Fragmented Abstraction IV . 1996. 70 x 90 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
years of painting
Figurative Landscape V (series). 2008. 48 x 48 cm. Oil on canvas
47 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
48 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Figurative Landscape IV (series). 1997. 48 x 48 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Metamorphosis III . 1996. 115 x 95 cm. Oil on canvas
F IGURATIVE
50 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Reclining Figure IV . 1988. 110 x 96 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Reclining Figure II . 1983. 59 x 69 cm. Oil on canvas
Reclining Figure I. 1983. 46 x 56 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
40 years of painting
Portraiture. 2006. 120 x 92 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Abstract Figurative II . 1989. 172 x 193 cm. Oil on canvas
55 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Figurative Gesture III . 1990. 185 x 206 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
years of painting
Figurative Gesture II . 1986-88. 99 x 99 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Figurative Gesture I. 1986. 102 x 102 cm. Oil on canvas
58 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Abstract Figurative I. 1988. 111 x 96 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
years of painting
Abstract Figurative III .1989. 135 x 196 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
40 years of painting
Fragmented Figures I. 2000. 125 x 92 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
years of painting
Fragmented Figures II . 2008. 106 x 78.5 cm. Oil on canvas
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Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Reclining Figure V.1989. 168 x 195 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
years of painting
Reclining Figure III . 1987. 96 x 105 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
years of painting
Figurative Gesture IV . 1992. 115 x 59.5 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
years of painting
Fragmented Figures III . 2008. 115 x 90 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Abstract Figurative IV . 1990. 160 x 205 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
40 years of painting
Fragmented Figures IV . 2006. 90 x 90 cm. Oil on canvas
L
ANDSCAPES & E ARLY W ORK
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Riffa Wadi. 1983. 61 x 71 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Um Jadder Scene. 2006. 80 x 100 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
View of Riffa Fort. 2006. 90 x 111 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Inspired by Jasra Coast. 1998. 107 x 127 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Inspired by Hafeera Plain. 2006. 99 x 113 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Inspired by Budaiya Coast. 2006. 100 x 114 cm. Oil on canvas
LANDSCAPES & EARLY WORK
Rumaitha Wadi I. 1995. 80 x 100 cm. Oil on canvas
75 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Rumaitha Wadi II . 1995. 115 x 90 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Wadi in Sakhir. 1995. 115 x 90 cm. Oil on canvas
78
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Road to Rumaitha. 1995. 120 x 180 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Ruins at Sakhir. 1987. 85 x 110 cm. Oil on canvas
80 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Hunainiya. 1987. 102 x 132 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Selah I. 1989. 36 x 46 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Selah II . 1989. 40 x 50 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Untitled. 1993. 140 x 160 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Riffa Fort. 1983. 50 x 70 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
A Camel at the Souk. 1992. 90 x 100 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
After the Rain. 1992. 55 x 60 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Inspired by Bahrain Fort. 2004. 80 x 100 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
A Field in Karranah. 1990. 80 x 100 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
years of painting
Three Landscapes in One. 1982. 92 x 137 cm. Oil on plywood
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Waves. 1982. 108.5 x 108 cm. Oil on plywood
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Muharraq Souk. 1981. 69 x 91 cm. Acrylic on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Quarry. 1971. 39 x 50 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Seaside at Arad Fort. 1987. 22 x 97 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Dawn at Sakhir. 1983. 76 x 91 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Sussex, England. 1977. 31 x 61 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Boats at Sitra Coast. 1983. 74 x 66 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Grazing at the English Countryside. 1977. 31 x 61 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Camels on Rumaitha Wadi. 1983. 100 x 120 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Feeding at Al Amar. 1981. 75 x 120 cm. Oil on canvas
T HE B EGINNING
100 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
First work painted at the age of 16. 1968. 25.5 x 40.5 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Horses at Sakhir Palace. 1969. 50.5 x 81.5 cm. Oil on canvas
Horses at Sakhir Mosque. 1968. 30.5 x 46 cm. Oil on canvas
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Safra Racing Track. 1969. 42 x 80 cm. Oil on canvas
Barastis by Bahrain Fort. 1969. 40 x 70 cm. Oil on canvas
S KETCHES
S TUDIES & W ATERCOLOURS
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Biomorphic studies. Mid-’90s. Goauche on paper
Biomorphic studies. Mid-’90s. Goauche and watercolour on paper
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Biomorphic studies. Mid-’90s. Goauche and watercolour on paper
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Biomorphic studies. Mid-’90s. Goauche and watercolour on paper
108 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Biomorphic studies. Mid-’90s. Goauche and watercolour on paper
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
110 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Biomorphic sketch. Mid-’90s. Goauche, watercolour and charcoal on paper
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Biomorphic sketch. 1997. Goauche,watercolour and charcoal on paper
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
Figurative sketches. Ca.1980-90. Pen and ink on paper
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Portrait studies. Ca. 1980. Charcoal on paper
Portrait sketch. Ca. 1984. Watercolour on paper
Portrait sketch. Ca. 1980. Charcoal on paper
Portrait study. Ca. 1990. Charcoal on paper
114 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
English countryside. Mid-’70s. Charcoal on paper
English seaside. Mid-’70s Colour pencil on paper
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
English seaside. Mid-’70s. Watercolour on paper Bahraini landscape. Ca. 1980. Watercolour on paper
116 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Bahraini desert. Ca. 1980. Watercolour on paper
Bahraini seaside. Ca. 1980. Watercolour on paper
117 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Quasi-figurative study. Mid-‘90s. Charcoal and coloured pencil on cigar box
A T W ORK
118 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
119 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
40 years of painting
120 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
121 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
122 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
123 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
40 years of painting
Painting with daughter Aysha
124 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
40 years of painting
Plein air
O THER W ORK
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Interior design
126 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
The artist’s studio
127 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Bachelor’s apartment
128 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
40 years of painting
Photography
129
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
40 years of painting
130 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
131 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
132 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
133 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
135 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Photography as reference
136 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
137 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
40 years of painting
138 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
139 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
140 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
40 years of painting
Timepiece design
142 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Wristwatch
Travel clock
Graphic design
143 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Bahrain Airport Services logo
144 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
Arabesque pattern
Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
40 years of painting
Bahrain commemorative stamps
146 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
147 Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting
