Education
In 1962, unhappy with his work, he chose to return to Paris.
In 1962, unhappy with his work, he chose to return to Paris.
Shahda, aged 18, joined the Cairo Fine Arts Academy in 1947. He worked there under French painter Pierre Beppi-Martin. At the end of the same year, he decided to leave for Paris.
He applied as free student to the École des Beaux-Arts.
He quickly moved to the south of France, in Carpentras. A first exhibition took place in 1958 at the Arlette Chabaud Gallery in Avignon.
In 1963 he visited Italy, then Brittany. In 1966, he returned to Provence, but spent several summers in Brittany.
The following decade saw him visit Belgium, Netherlands, Spain and Italy, and show his work in Paris, at the Egypt Cultural Center, in Avignon, at the Ducastel Gallery, in the Carpentras Town-Hall and in Marseilles.
In 1975, Shahda became seriously illinois He kept on painting, but felt threatened: "One must snatch work from passing time.". During a long remission, he worked on portraits and self-portraits, oil or pastel drawing.
He organized two exhibitions in Carpentras in 1981 and 1984.
His health deteriorated again in 1985, but he kept on working harder than ever: still lifes, self-portraits and despite illness and exhaustion landscapes. He died from cancer during summer 1991.