monument would need to be a symbol of a new world, and designed a work that was a narrative of the 1958 revolution, but that also paid homage to Iraq's deep art history by including Abbasid and Babylonian wall-reliefs, producing a sculpture that was both "strikingly modern" yet also referenced tradition. Saleem laboured on the project under difficult conditions, resisting all attempts by Qasim to have his image incorporated. Initially, Saleem had wanted the sculpture to be at ground level, but the architect, Rifa'at Chadirchi insisted that it be elevated so that it would look more 'monumental'. As a result, the completed work faces the busy traffic rather than people walking in the adjacent gardens. Although the monument was Saleem's design, he did not see it through to completion; following his premature death, the project was completed in 1961 by Saleem's friend, Mohammed Ghani Hikmat, who had previously been assisting on the project by casting the bronze figures. The completed monument, known as Nasb al-Hurriyah ("Monument of Freedom"), has survived various attempts to have it pulled down and is one of Baghdad's most iconic public works. Saleem is credited as being the most influential artist in Iraq's modern art movement and is said to have brought a 'modern vision' to Iraq. The Iraqi intellectual, Jabra Ibrahim Jabra wrote of him: Saleem suffered a heart attack and died in the Republican Hospital on 23 January 1961 aged 42 years. His wife, Lorna was with him, and he was surrounded by his friends from the arts community; Hafidh al-Droubi, Ismail al-Sheikhli, Said Shaker, Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Bahir Faeq, Salem Damluji and Khalid Al-Qasab as well as his former student and colleague, Khaled al-Rahal who was reduced to tears and made a death mask of his mentor, the man to whom he had been utterly devoted during his lifetime. Scholars have suggested that his premature death can be attributed, at least in part, to the stresses of completing the Nasb al-Hurriyah sculpture. His demise was seen as an "irreparable loss to Arab visual culture." Work Saleem consciously included Assyrian and Babylonian architectural features into his artworks - and was one of the first Iraqi artists to forge links with Iraq's ancient civilisations and their artistic traditions. Examples of his work are held in the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Art. Saleem is especially known for his Nasb al-Hurriyah, located in Tahir Square, one