Adonis
Creator of Legends

Ali Ahmed Sa’eed Esber, known as ‘Adonis’ after the Phoenician legend, is a thinker, poet, and artist of Syrian origin who holds the Lebanese nationality that he and his family obtained in 1963. In an interview with a Lebanese newspaper, the late poet Nizar Qabbani described Adonis as “The most beautiful gift presented by the mountains of Syria to the mountains of Lebanon.”
He was born in al-Qassabin village in the city of Jableh in Syria and was not enrolled in formal education until thirteen years old. He memorized the Qur’an with the help of his father who was a poet. Adonis also memorized a large number of poems by ancient poets. He graduated from the University of Damascus in 1954, majoring in philosophy. His thesis pertained to al-Makzoon al-Sinjari (1187-1240), an Alawite prince, poet, jurist, and Sufi. In 1954, he joined the military service and spent a year in prison without trial because of his affiliation at that time with the Syrian Social Nationalist Party which he organizationally left in 1960. He moved to Lebanon in 1956 in which he met the poet Youssef Al-Khal after many correspondences between them, and then they jointly published a poetry magazine in early 1957. Adonis also published ‘Mawaqif’ journal between 1969 and 1994. In 1971, he started teaching at the Lebanese University, Faculty of Education, and kept up until 1985. In 1973, he obtained a doctorate in literature from Saint Joseph University in which his thesis ‘The Constant and the Transforming’ was considered one of his most prominent writings. As of 1955, he was repeatedly invited as a visiting professor to universities and research centers in France, Switzerland, the United States, and Germany. He received a number of international awards and titles of honor, and his works have been translated into thirteen languages, not to mention some oriental languages, such as Turkish, Kurdish, Persian, Indonesian, and Chinese. In 1986, Adonis was invited to be represent the Arab League delegation to UNESCO, so he moved with his family to Paris, and he remained in this position until 1991. He taught Arabic literature at the University of Geneva between 1989 and 1995, and in 1986 he won the Grand Prix in Brussels and then the Golden Crown Award for Poetry in the Republic of Macedonia, October 1997.

Adonis’ journey in Lebanon was marked by his involvement in the Lebanese cultural field via establishing cultural institutions. In 1960, he established ‘Afaq’ magazine which mainly pertains to philosophical and political thought and to literature in general. He participated in the activities of the Lebanese Symposium founded by Michel Asmar in 1946, especially the Islamic-Christian dialogue seminars in 1967 and the ‘After June 6, 1967, Where is Lebanon?’ lectures. In 1967, Adonis was among the founding members of the Lebanese Writers Union. In 1968, he was among the founders of the Afro-Asian Writers’ Association. Later, he participated in the activities of the House of Art and Literature, which was founded by Janine Rubeiz. 

Adonis: “Untitled,” several materials on paper, 2011. In this work, Adonis uses scraps of newspaper and small electronic pieces for the first time. The work is about peace and hope alongside the cruelty of injustice, persecution, and war. It expresses the relationship between heritage on the one side and modernism and technology on another side. While Arabic calligraphy art represents heritage, modernism and technology are represented in a form that suggests a person made of iron and expendable electronic tools, extending his hands in both directions, making his body the center of the painting, passing through it to the shape of the geographical dimension of Palestine, and renewing the type of conflict to confirm that the body is one despite some damage.

Adonis: “Untitled,” various materials on paper, 1993. In this work, Adonis uses Arabic calligraphy as a visual language without addition of meaning. He rather uses the shape of letters with their bends and inflections, which creates an archaeological form that indicates the strength of metal and stone’s survival with the calligraphy’s splendor and flexibility. The result is a painting that ranges between strength, gentleness, and softness. This fusion is reinforced through a piece of woven red cloth, so the relationship between the stages of human development and what is ancient and archaeological appears in a structure that targets the dimensions of the development of the letter’s shape despite the difference in civilizations.

At an advanced age, Adonis, the poet, resorted to form his ‘Raqimah’, as he coins it. He brought into play art to form a new world without any cut off from poetry in which paintings are drawn with words. So, poetry and fine arts stem from the same source, “Painting is a language, and this language is a colored one which is similar to poetry written with a brush. Leonardo da Vinci says, “Painting is dumb poetry, and poetry is speaking painting. Rabindranath Tagore, who did not master painting until old age, used to describe painting as the love of his old age and his paintings as poetry arranged in lines.”⁽⁵⁾ So, Adonis is still in the same circle despite the change in the form or style of expression. He does not consider himself a fine artist; he says, “I make a collage and call it a ‘Raqimah’ to avoid the word ‘collage.’”⁽⁶⁾ He sees his works as an extension of his poetry because his fine art was more expressive of his intentions than his words of poetry were.
It can be said that creative work does not come from nowhere. The artist’s production is linked to the internally-simmering deep feelings and solutions in a special world that cannot be understood by words. The artist’s inner boiling is his innermost impulse that drives him to action. “Painting in itself needs a quasi-religious ritual. Pablo Picasso used to say that he goes to his studio as a Muslim goes to prayer, leaving his shoes at the door.”⁽⁷⁾

Adonis: “Untitled,” various materials, black ink on paper. The painting represents the poems of Bashar bin Burd (96-168 AH) written in Arabic calligraphy. Bin Burd who was born blind is considered one of the most prominent poets of his time. He rebelled against customs and traditions, and at the end of his life, he was accused of heresy, so he was whipped until death in the era of the Caliph al-Mahdi. This painting was an expression of that incident in which the painting is formed from the dimensions of the red fabric that the artist shed on his painting just like the blood of his poet (the author of the words). In result, the painting merges with the figure, the background becomes the body of the poet smeared with blood, and the places of whips cast a black shadow over this creativity.

1. A group of authors: “Modern Arabic Poetry,” Part 2, The National Council for Culture, Arts, and Letters, Kuwait, 2005, p. 63.
2.  Ibid., p. 103.
3.  Personal interview: Adonis, The Louvre Hotel Café, a recorded interview, Paris, France, 25/12/2015.
4.  Personal interview: Adonis, Ibid.

5.  Qumiya, Mustafa: “From Travel to Travel”, House of Culture and Information, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, pp. 91-92.
6.  Personal interview: Adonis, Ibid.
7.  Qumiya, Mustafa: Ibid, pp. 92.