Following the formative years with Allief, the young Muhanna met Dutch painter, William Hallowin, who introduced him to Rembrandt and the Dutch school which sparked an obsession with the power of light. In 1954, he was sent to the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome to become the first Jordanian to receive a formal art education. He claims to have been disillusioned by the academy and committed himself to studying the classics through art in museums and churches. After graduating in 1958, Durra returned to Amman to teach history of art at the Teachers' Training College. In 1964, Durra established the Fine Arts Section at the Department of Culture and Art, Amman, and then established the Jordan Institute of Fine Arts in 1970.