Ivan Agueli aka Abd al-Hādī 'Aqīlī

Ivan Aguéli (born John Gustaf Agelii) (May 24, 1869 - October 1, 1917) also named Sheikh 'Abd al-Hādī 'Aqīlī (Arabic: شيخ عبد الهادی عقیلی‎) upon his acceptance of Islam, was a Swedish wandering Sufi, painter and author. As a devotee of Ibn Arabi, his metaphysics applied to the study of Islamic esoterism and its similarities with other esoteric traditions of the world. He was the initiator of René Guénon into Sufism^[2] and founder of the Parisian al Akbariyya society. His art was a unique form of miniature Post-Impressionism where he used the blend of colours to create a sense of depth and distance. His unique style of art made him one of the founders of the Swedish contemporary art movement. (wikipedia)

He was born in Gotland where he started to paint, Later he moved around in Europe. He was a animal activist and maybe the first swedish vegetarian? :)

Some say it is because of him bullfighting never became popular in France, during a parade, he were shooting against two matadors and wounded one of them. Soon after. bullfighting were forbidden.

After spending two months in jail he was moving around and ended up in Kairo and he started to study the arabic language (one of the first europeans to do so).

He also converted to Islam and lived in Egypt for many years.

Ivan died 1917 in a train accident in Barcelona, ​​He was deaf and people think that he couldn't hear when the train was coming.

He was so much ahead of his time, both in his way of living and painting.

For me his paintings are so mysterious and he's coulours are beyond my mind

"The man has not lived who has not been in a tent in the desert and heard camels GRUMBLE."

/ AnDrE