EXHIBITION | Dialogues Algiers – Paris | 2026

DIALOGUES ALGIERS – PARIS | 2026

EXHIBITION
Modern and Contemporary Artists (1959–2025)

Curator: Claude Lemand

Moderne Art Fair 2026 presents DIALOGUES between Algiers and Paris, through an exhibition devoted to the works of eight modern and contemporary artists, selected from among the twenty or so Algerian artists whom we admire and who inspire us. This spotlight is fully in keeping with the spirit of the 2026 edition of Moderne Art Fair, resolutely focused on discovery, cultural dialogue, and bringing the major international art scenes into perspective.

Bringing together four women and four men, this selection features emblematic figures such as BAYA, Abdallah Benanteur, Djamila Bent Mohamed, Abdelkader Guermaz, M’hamed Issiakhem, Mohammed Khadda, as well as the two contemporary artists Zoulikha Bouabdellah and Halida Boughriet. Together, they bear witness to the remarkable creativity of three generations of artists, despite the tragedies of history, and to the richness of collective and personal artistic exchanges between the two shores of the Mediterranean.

Our passion for the works of the great Algerian artists dates back to our encounter, in 1987, with the sublime work of Abdallah Benanteur. This small exhibition seeks to give resonance to the artistic testament he left us through his Les Élus series, currently exhibited alongside Claude Monet’s Water Lilies at Les Franciscaines in Deauville.

DIALOGUES Algiers-Paris seeks to bear witness to the fraternity and solidarity that united Algerian and French artists and intellectuals during the most difficult years of their shared history—fraternity and solidarity that continue to this day. It is our manifesto for universal fraternity through the Arts and Culture, between the peoples of the two shores and among all human beings on the planet.

The works presented in DIALOGUES Algiers-Paris are a song of the suffering of the colonized Algerian land and people, a song of Algerian culture and identity uprooted, but also, and above all, a song of freedom and hope, of the renewal of artistic and cultural creativity, and the announcement of a long-awaited and necessary renaissance. They express the love that all these artists have for Algeria, those who live there and those who live abroad, all these creators of the diaspora who can say, like Abdallah Benanteur: “Algeria is within me; only my feet have left it. My spirit constantly wanders among my people.”

DIALOGUES Algiers-Paris also highlights the artistic, cultural, and human importance of the cosmopolitan Parisian art scene, a place of dialogue for artists from around the world during the decades following the end of the Second World War, when the colonial system and Eurocentrism were increasingly challenged—a central role that remains relevant today.

We are delighted that, since the year 2000, works by the leading modern and contemporary Algerian artists have gradually entered the collections of major French and international museums. Given their remarkable quality, it was long overdue.

Banner: © Abdallah BENANTEUR, Pistes, 1959. Oil on canvas, 89 × 146 cm. © Succession Abdallah Benanteur. Courtesy Galerie Claude Lemand, Paris.

BAYA, Les Oiseaux musiciens, 1976. Gouache and graphite on paper, 100 × 150 cm. © Succession BAYA. Courtesy Galerie Claude Lemand, Paris.

FEATURED ARTISTS :

Halida BOUGHRIET
Abdelkader GUERMAZ
M’hamed ISSIAKHEM
Mohammed KHADDA

ARTWORKS