A leading figure on the contemporary Arab art scene, Marwan is appreciated for his figurative work, in particular for the concept of “face-landscape”, a term coined by the Syrian poet Adonis. 

Born in Damascus, Marwan studied Arabic literature before moving to Germany at the age of 23. In Berlin, he studied painting at the Hochschule der Bildende Künste and discovered Expressionism through his teacher Hann Trier. In the 1960s, alongside the German painter Georg Baselitz, he took part in the New Figuration movement, which sought to establish a ‘third way’ in the face of the two hegemonic pictorial trends, abstraction and new realism.  

From the 1970s onwards, he embarked on a repetitive, or archaeological exploration of the human head, which became a subject in its own right, seen as a constantly renewed landscape. Very soon it was his own face that became the focus of his experimentation. Using a small but powerful palette, a free and nervous touch, and accommodating both small and monumental formats, Marwan has left an astonishing record of an obsessive quest for the human soul. 

Marwan's work can be seen in all major museums, including the Tate Modern (London), the Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris), the Städel Museum (Frankfurt), the Guggenheim (Abu Dhabi), the Barjeel Art Foundation Collection, Darat al Funun (Amman) and many others.