Receiving his degree in 1961 at the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad, Rakan Dabdoub joined the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. These were his first steps into developing the basis for his artistic style and his departure from the specificity he was taught in Baghdad. He became a distinguished artist after he participated in the Exhibition of Arab Artists held in Rome in the 1960’s.

When he returned to Mosul after his expeditions in Italy, he became a teacher at the University of Mosul in the Engineering Department. He retired as a teacher in 1993 and continued to paint and contribute to several exhibitions in and out of Iraq. Works by Rakan Dabdoub have sold at Christie's Dubai Post-War and Contemporary Art in 19 March 2014, Lot 110;...