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The Arab World Institute in Paris highlights its new collection of modern and contemporary art from Algeria and the diasporas: "Algeria my love". The exhibition is intended to witness the brotherhood and solidarity that have linked Algerian and French artists and intellectuals during the most difficult years of their common history until today.

From March 18 to July 31, 2022, thirty-six works by eighteen artists whose ages span three generations will be on view at the IMA. In addition, the Institute of the Arab World holds the largest collection of the Western world for the Algerian corpus alone, with over six hundred works. The exhibition covers a wide period, bringing together artists whose oldest, the non-figurative painter Louis Nallard, was born in 1918, and the youngest, El Meya, also a painter, is not thirty-five years old.

Souhila BELBAHAR, The Women of Algiers according to Delacroix, 1962. Mixed media on paper.

France and Algeria obviously share a piece of common history. Claude Lemand, collector, patron and gallery owner was keen to add the mention Artists of Algerian brotherhood under the title of the exhibition, highlighting the shared struggle of French and Algerian citizens for Algerian independence.

The exhibition delivers a message of pride and appreciation of Algerian history, consisting of both French and Algerian arts and cultures. Despite the tragedies of history, “Algeria my love” reveals the richness of modern and contemporary Algerian production in both classical and fantasy arts.

Denis MARTINEZ, Anzar (the Berber prince of rain), 2001. Acrylic on canvas.

Through this exhibition, Claude Lemand is enthusiastic about an Algerian art scene that he considers among the richest in the Arab world and deplores its lack of knowledge of the general public. The patron encourages Algerians to develop their art and promises that “Algeria my love” is only the first collection of a long series: the beginning of the adventure.

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