In Paris, he joined the studios of Fernand Léger, André Lhote, Marcel Marceau and Ossip Zadkine while studying at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière.
Rayess participated in many group shows including the biennales of São Paulo (1960) and Bagdad (1974); the Unesco exhibition in Montreal (1978); the Mall Galleries, London (1986) and the Salons of the Sursock Museum, Beirut (1961, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1968).
With the outbreak of the civil war in Lebanon, he relocated to Saudi Arabia and was appointed as the city of Jeddah's art consultant for many years.
[2] His work is widely based on the human being and its relationship to nature and history, stating that "Man is a unity that embodies both the means and the goals...".
[3] In the 1960s his painting evolved around Man and the Third World and in the early 1970s, he unexpectedly presented an exhibition related to whorehouses off Martyrs' Square, Beirut.
[6] In these troubled times, El Rayess showed political involvement in creating a poster commemorating the assassination of the Druze leader Kamal Jumblatt.
He was commissioned monumental works for the city of Jeddah,[8] including a piece named "Swords of God (Soyuf Allah)".
[11] Most of the book can be found with his daughter Hala Aref El Rayess, and a few at "RectoVerso" a library dedicated to art in Lebanon.