[1][2] He met Syrian artist Wahbi al-Hariri there and the two would share a friendship for the rest of Kayali's life.

Moudarress and Kayali would together represent Syrian modern art at the Venice Biennial Fair.

[3] He suffered from depression and died in 1978[4] from burns incurred from his bed catching fire, reportedly from a cigarette.

[6] That same year, the International Modern Art Hall of Damascus hosted his exhibit of 28 oil paintings on canvas and 30 sketches.

[8] In 2008, Christie's auctioned off several of his paintings:[9] On April 16, 2013, Christie's sold two of his paintings as part of the Modern and Contemporary Arab, Iranian and Turkish Art Part I auction (Sale 8061) in Dubai [10] On October 25, 2011, Christie's Dubai sold his work titled "Fisherman in Arwad" for $194,500 which is the highest auction sale price as of March 16, 2016 In 2019, he was featured as a Google Doodle on what would have been his 85th birthday.