Paul Caruana
Maltese Watercolor Artist
Paul Caruana is a celebrated Maltese artist known for his ability to paint a life that has now disappeared. Growing up in the capital city of Valletta, his watercolors document the social history of the Maltese Islands, capturing a time when entire days were spent playing in the streets, before technology changed the community life his generation knew.
"My aim isn't to wow the viewer with technique," Caruana says. "My aim is to make you stop and forget life for a few seconds and transport you to a world where everything was simpler, less hectic."
After his father passed away when Paul was just 16, he became the breadwinner for his family, painting at night whenever he could. His work serves as both a comprehensive art collection and a memoir of those formative years - living in Valletta, Rabat, and Mdina. Structuring personal recollections as "visual fairytales," his softly executed watercolors recount this Mediterranean ethnography with humour, warmth, and deep nostalgia.
His latest work, Wrinkles, is a definitive 272-page collection of these memories and paintings, published by Midsea Books. Through exquisite watercolor paintings and personal memoirs, Caruana captures the soul of a bygone Malta.