After signing the Long live Degenerate Art! manifesto (Cairo, 1938) against the Nazi condemnation of Modernism, an artistic-political gesture in pure surrealist style, together with the Egyptian group Art et liberté he became the catalyst of a rebellious and visionary impulse which lasted until his death, producing visual work but also philosophy, art criticism, and famous translations into Arabic (Camus, Kafka, Rimbaud).
