|Image from the Mana Keepers website.|
About: Khalil Gibran (1883–1931) was a Lebanese artist, poet, and writer. Gibran is the third best-selling poet of all time, behind Shakespeare and Lao-Tzu. His best-known work, The Prophet (1923), has been translated into more than forty languages.
Biography: Born in 1883 in the town of Bsharri, in modern-day Lebanon, Khalil Gibran spent his youth in relative poverty, and thus received little formal education. After his Father was imprisoned for embezzlement, the rest of his family moved to America in 1895.
While living in Boston,Gibran enrolled in an art school, where he met the avant-garde artist, photographer and publisher Fred Holland-Day, who encouraged Gibran to pursue his artisitc endeavours.
In 1904, Gibran held his first art exhibition in Boston's Day Studio, where he met Mary Haskell and thus formed a great friendship that was to span the rest of his life. In 1908, Gibran went to Paris and studied with Auguste Rodin for two years.
Before 1918, most of Gibran's writing had been in Arabic, but after he published 'The Madman' with Alfred A. Knopf in 1918, he began to publish in English. Gibran subsequently published his best-known novel, 'The Prophet,' a collection of twenty six poetic essays. Typically, Gibran's writing focuses on Chrisitanity, and the theme of spiritual love.
The immensity of Gibran's talent is reflected in his status as the worlds third best-selling poet of all time, behind Lao-Tzu and Shakespeare.
Description: Khalil (also spelled Kahlil) Gibran (1883–1931) was a Lebanese artist, poet, and writer. His book, The Prophet, is an early example of inspirational fiction including a series of philosophical essays. Gibran is the third best-selling poet of all time, behind Shakespeare and Lao-Tzu. The paintings on this page are works by Gibran himself.