An exceptional artistic journey retracing six decades of Moroccan painting in the heart of Rabat.
From Bab Rouah to the Oudayas, Rabat is hosting a major cultural event that retraces 60 years of Moroccan painting. For one month, the capital becomes an open-air museum, celebrating the memory, diversity, and vitality of Morocco’s visual arts scene.
A landmark exhibition across four cultural spaces
The exhibition “60 Years of Painting in Morocco” opens on Tuesday, January 6, at the National Bab Rouah Gallery. Organized by the Moroccan Union of Professional Visual Artists (SMAPP), the event also extends to three other emblematic venues: Villa des Arts – Fondation Al Mada, the Bank Al-Maghrib Museum, and the Bab El Kébir Gallery at the Oudayas.
This large-scale artistic journey brings together four major institutions, offering visitors a unique perspective on the evolution of Moroccan painting from the early abstraction pioneers to the most contemporary visual expressions.
Continuing a legacy of artistic memory
According to Ahmed Mansouri, president of SMAPP, this exhibition follows the 2015 event “50 Years of Visual Arts in Morocco,” held at the Hassan II Media Library in partnership with the Moroccan Association of Visual Arts, then chaired by the late Mohamed Melehi.
In total, 164 artworks are displayed across the four venues, with most pieces loaned by partner galleries involved in the project.
Major figures of Moroccan painting represented
The exhibition features works by leading figures of the Moroccan art scene, including Abdelkébir Rabii, Mahi Binebine, Abderrahmane Rahoule, Abdellah Hariri, Abdelhay Mellak, Malika Agueznay, and Abdelkrim Ghattas, alongside several other prominent artists.
Numerous galleries and institutions have joined the initiative, such as Dar d’Art (Tangier), Eden Art Gallery (Casablanca), Galerie 38 (Casablanca), Noir sur Blanc (Marrakech), Kent Gallery (Tangier), Khalid Fine Arts (Marrakech), Loft Art Gallery (Casablanca), and Myriem Himmich Gallery (Casablanca), with the support of the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication and the Bank Al-Maghrib Museum.
A journey through six decades of creation
Running until January 29, the exhibition aims to retrace six decades of Moroccan pictorial creation, highlighting stylistic evolution, aesthetic diversity, and the dynamism of successive generations of artists.
The opening tour will begin at 4:00 pm at Bab Rouah Gallery, before continuing to Villa des Arts – Fondation Al Mada, the Bank Al-Maghrib Museum, and concluding at Bab El Kébir Gallery in the Oudayas.
