Our Colors, Our Fraternity

Acrylic, watercolor & gold on passepartout cardboard, 50 x 35 cm, Islamic Calligraphy, Illumination and Miniature Painting Museum, Algeria

Anatolia’s time-honored cultural diversity has found its finest and most delightful expression in the poetry of Rumi, who preached embracing all human beings regardless of their race, language, or religion. This painting was inspired by one of his most well-known verses, which reads, “Come, come, whoever you are.” Religious figures from various faiths are shown, as well as Rumi’s turquoise conical-domed mausoleum located in Konya, Turkey. 

Curator’s Note: Jalal ad-Din Mohammed Rumi, more popularly known simply as Rumi, was a 13th-century poet, Islamic scholar, and Sufi mystic originally from Khorasan in Persia. He is buried in Konya, a city in Turkey’s Central Anatolian region.