Yousef Ahmed was born in Doha in 1955. A member of the first generation of modern artists in Qatar, Ahmed by necessity studied abroad, receiving a Master’s degree in fine arts from Mills College in California in 1982. Inspired by the forms and the hues of the flat desert landscape of his native Qatar and by Arabic calligraphy, his paintings are often collages or mixed-media works where meets colors and textures derived from natural elements. Lines are elongated across the canvas or wood, and letters and patterns are layered with architectural shapes. Ahmed has exhibited throughout the United States, Europe, and the Arab world, and is the director of the new Arab Art Museum in Doha.