Prince Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa

Sheikh Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa (born 1952) is an interdisciplinary Bahraini visual artist and member of the Bahraini royal family. He is the current Chairman of Bahrain’s National Council for Arts and honorary president of the Bahrain Arts Society.

Beginning with landscape painting in the late 1960s, Rashid has been making art for over 50 years. His most recent work explores his immediate landscape and the traditional architecture of his homeland through wall-mounted, aluminum installations. He is widely considered one of Bahrain’s most renowned artists.

Biography German artist Sebastian Bieniek talking to Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa at the Views Bahrain exhibition in 2016. Rashid Al Khalifa was born in Riffa in 1952. He is the second son of Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad Al Khalifa, who was the eighth son of Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the ruler of Bahrain from 1932 until his death in 1942.

Rashid held his first solo exhibition at the Dilmun Hotel, Bahrain, in 1970 when he was 18 years old, and then moved to the UK in 1972 to study at the Hastings College of Arts and Technology in Sussex. After returning to Bahrain in 1978, inspired by Europe's greatest Impressionist masters, he began his own renditions of his country's landscapes, producing a series of atmospheric paintings of the desert, sea, and historical sites. These works were first presented at the Middle East Institute, Washington, D.C., USA, and at the Sheraton Hotel, Bahrain, in 1982. Rashid developed his painting by responding to certain movements and styles such as geometric abstraction, hard-edge painting and colour field work. In 1983, Rashid and a number of other Bahraini artists, formed the Bahrain Arts Society, a non-profit organization for Bahraini artists, whereby Rashid was named its first president. He continues to hold the title of honorary president.

In 2010, an exhibition was held at the Bahrain National of his work, "Convex: A New Perspective". In 2012, he held solo exhibitions at the Bahrain Financial Harbour, Manama, Beirut Art Fair, Lebanon, and Abu Dhabi Art, UAE.

In 2015 he participated in the 56th Venice Biennale, "Eye of the Thunderstorm: Effervescent Practices from the Arab World", in both the ‘Nomi/Names’ joint exhibition and a collateral event, ‘The commissioned by the Contemporary Practices Journal.

In 2018, the artist presented a solo show at Ayyam Gallery in Dubai, UAE, "Hybrids", and a solo exhibition, "Penumbra: Textured Shadow, Coloured Light", at the Saatchi Gallery in London. In 2020, Rizzoli publishing house released an illustrated publication of Rashid Al Khalifa's work, Rashid Al Khalifa, Full Circle.

Rashid held a government post as the Undersecretary for Tourism and Archaeology for the Ministry of Culture, Bahrain until June 2011. After the first Gulf War, he was appointed Undersecretary of Immigration, Passports and Residence Affairs.

Awards 1991 GCC Golden Palm Award Doha 1989 GCC Dana Award Kuwait