Infectious joie de vivre suffuses the color-drenched art and the unconventional life of the celebrated Lebanese artist, Huguette Caland.

Caland once said, “I love every minute of my life. I squeeze it like an orange, and I eat the peel, because I don’t want to miss anything,” – a statement that fully expresses the long and adventurous life that Caland lived.

Born into an elite political Lebanese family, Caland was the daughter of Bechara El-Khoury, Lebanon’s first president after the country threw off the yoke of French colonial rule in 1943 and gained its independence. El-Khoury was to rule until 1952, at which time he was forced to resign after a turbulent tenure.