A leading expert in modern and contemporary Arab art, Saleh Barakat founded Agial Art Gallery in Beirut in 1991.  As executive manager, he participated in building some major collections of modern and contemporary Arab art in Lebanon and the region.  Possessing a strong business background complimenting his experience in the arts, Barakat has engaged in developing a healthy market environment for creative expression in the Arab world.  He has curated several pan-Arab exhibitions, including the IXth Francophone Summit in Beirut, the 2003 World Bank Summit in Dubai, “The Road to Peace: Painting in Times of War 1975-1991” at the Beirut Art Center in 2009. He also co-curated the first national pavilion for Lebanon at the 52nd Venice Biennale, the touring exhibition “Mediterranean Crossroads”, in collaboration the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and recently “Word and Illumination” in collaboration with the British Museum at Madina Munawwara in 2013. He curated “Saloua Raouda Choucair: The Retrospective” in 2011, Chafic Abboud in 2012, and Michel Basbous in 2014 at the Beirut Exhibition Center  He serves on the steering committee of the Arts Center at the American University of Beirut. He was nominated as a Yale World Fellow in 2006.