Three iconic paintings return to Sursock Museum after restoration

Among dozens of paintings showcased in the Sursock Museum and distorted by the Beirut Port explosion, three linked to figures who "contributed to the renaissance of Lebanese cultural life" returned on Tuesday to their place after a rescue operation at France's Center Pompidou. 

The director of the Sursock Museum, Karina El Helou, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the three paintings that were hung on Tuesday were sent to Paris for restoration after the terrible explosion that damaged neighborhoods near the port. 

Back in February, Centre Pompidou, a place hosting one of the most significant collections of modern and contemporary art in Europe, announced that three damaged iconic paintings from the Sursock Museum have been restored by its teams, adding that forty works, out of one hundred and thirty-three exhibited, suffered damage to varying degrees.   

Based on Véronique Sorano-Stedman, head of the restoration service, the three pieces chosen by the Sursock museum's director, including the portrait of art collector Nicolas Ibrahim Sursock by Kees Van Dongen, the Portrait of Odile Mazloum by Cici Tomazeo Sursock, and the work "Consolation" by Paul Guiragosian, showed damages of different kinds.