Our artists

The gallery has its own collection consisting of 27 deceased artists.

Each room represents different art schools: Realism, Abstract, Impressionism, Surrealism, Symbolism, and Calligraphy with a total of 100 artists (national and international).

Local artists

We present the Essaouira artists featured in our gallery, highlighting their artistic identity and distinctive styles. It also offers a brief insight into their backgrounds and creative work, reflecting the richness and diversity of Essaouira’s artistic scene.

Ali Maimoun Born in 1956 in the region of Ouarzazate in southernMorocco, is a self-taught painter with a remarkable and unconventional artistic journey. Before devoting himself to art, he worked for many years as a mason, a manual craft that shaped his sensitivity to material, texture, and form. After settling in Essaouira known for its strong community of self-taught and outsider artistshe gradually established himself as one of the key figures of Morocco’s singular and intuitive artistic movement. His nonacademic path allowed him to develop a unique visual identity rooted in popular imagination, ancestral traditions, and collective
memory.

Regragui Bouslai is a Moroccan contemporary painter, born in1963 in the Chiadma region near Essaouira. He is a self-taught artist who belongs to a generation of Moroccan painters known for their intuitive, visionary, and non-academic approach to art.
Deeply rooted in his rural and cultural environment, Bouslai
draws inspiration from oral traditions, collective memory, local rituals, and the natural landscape of the Atlantic plains, including animals, trees, and symbolic elements of everyday life. His work reflects a strong connection to popular culture and storytelling,transforming simple lived experiences into rich visual narratives.

Mohmed Erraad is a Moroccan self-taught painter born
around 1968. He is originally from the Chiadma region
north of Essaouira and grew up in a cultural environment
linked to the Regraga traditions. He has lived and worked
in Essaouira for many years. He began painting at a young
age and dedicated himself fully to art in the early 1990s.

Mostafa Benmalek is a Moroccan painter born in 1977 in Essaouira. A self-taught artist, he began painting at a very young age around 12 years old guided purely by his personal inspiration and imagination. Growing up in a culturally rich environment, especially influenced by traditional life and colors, his early experiences such as working with spices played an important role in shaping his artistic sensitivity and vibrant palette.

Mohamed Sanoussi Born in 1953 in the coastal city of Essaouira, is a cornerstone of Morocco’s contemporary plastic arts movement. His artistic journey began with a formal education at the School of Applied Arts in Casablanca, where
he graduated in 1975, followed by specialized pedagogical studies in plastic arts in Rabat. These formative years provided him with a rigorous technical foundation that he later combined with his deep-rooted Moroccan heritage, ultimately settling in Agadir, where he became a dedicated professor and a central figure in the southern art scene.

Mohamed Tabal Born in 1959 in El Hanchane, in the Essaouira region, Mohamed Tabal is today one of the emblematic figures of Souiri popular art. A self-taught painter, he grew up immersed in Gnaoua traditions, which he was introduced to from early childhood. His nickname “Tabal,” referring to the Gnaoua drum player, recalls his beginnings as a travelling
musician, moving from village to village throughout the region. This deep connection to Gnaoua music and spirituality forms the foundation of his artistic identity. His encounter with the gallerist Frédéric Damgaard pioneer in
promoting Essaouira’s art scene marked a decisive turning point, encouraging Tabal to dedicate himself entirely to painting.

Ben Ali is a Moroccan painter, born in 1966 in Essaouira, formerly known as Mogador. He is a self-taught artist, often associated with the outsider art movement, which includes creators working outside formal art institutions. Growing up in a fishing community, Ben Ali worked as fisherman in his youth. A tragic boat accident, in which he lost both his brother and his boat, marked a turning point in his life and led him to dedicate himself fully to painting. Coming from a family of painters, he inherited a rich
artistic tradition which he has developed into a unique personal style.

Abdelmalek Lakbiar is a self-taught painter from the Essaouira region, born around 1974, and known as one of the notable of the city’s contemporary scene. His work appears in several Essaouira galleries, especially at the Centre d’Art Le Real Mogador, where visitor photos and exhibitions show his characteristic paintings
His style is easily recognizable: colorful compositions filled with dense, rhythmic dot patterns, stylized faces, symbolic figures, and motifs inspired by local life, trance/Gnawa culture, and the visual language typical of Essaouira’s outsider-art tradition.

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Abdelah El Atrach is a Moroccan painter known for his expressive and vibrant artistic universe, deeply rooted in Moroccan culture and everyday life. Although he is associated with themes and visual elements often linked to coastal and traditional environments, there is no confirmed public information establishing that he is originally from Essaouira. Born in Morocco, he developed a passion for art at an early age and gradually built his career through dedication and personal exploration. Like many contemporary Moroccan artists, he is largely self-taught, which allowed him to develop a free and intuitive style beyond academic conventions.

Mohamed Zouzaf is Moroccan painter born in 1955 in Essaouira, the city where he continues to live and work. Aself-taught artist, he developed his practice outside traditional academic frameworks, shaping from an earlystage a highly personal visual language. Deeply attached to his hometown, Essaouira occupies a central place in both his artistic journey and his visual imagination.

Artists from across Morocco

We present artists from across Morocco featured in our gallery, showcasing the diversity of artistic expressions and cultural influences that shape their work. Each artist brings a unique vision, distinctive style, and personal creative journey, reflecting the richness of Morocco’s contemporary and traditional art scene. This selection offers a glimpse into the talent and creativity found throughout the country, celebrating the vibrant spirit of Moroccan art beyond local boundaries.

Mohamed Mazouz

Is a Moroccan painter and calligrapher, born in 1974 in Rabat. He is known for developing a unique artistic style that blends contemporary abstract painting with elements of Arabic calligraphy. His works often feature vibrant colors, fluid lines, and symbolic forms inspired by Moroccan cultural heritage

Abdelhak Arzima

Born in 1965 in Meknes, Abdelhak Arzima is recognized as one of the masters of figurative art in Morocco. His work, characterized by highrelief
portraits, reveals a pictorial mastery that is both powerful and deeply expressive. Like a virtuoso, the painter handles his brushes and materials to bring to life scenes of daily existence, the "Fantasia," and
portraits that truly take the breath away. In his "Atelier Bleu," he welcomes us into a colorful and luminous universe. "Figurative art is the only way an artist can express, or even summarize, the entire spirit of a society," he asserts. "In truth, it is the
figurative foundation that reveals the genius of the artist." For Arzima,art follows the adage: “Practice makes perfect.”

Youssef Nadri is a contemporary Moroccan painter born in 1970 in Salé. His work explores themes of identity, memory, and the deep connection between humanity and the land. Influenced by both Moroccan culture and his time in Italy, where he encountered Renaissance art, Nadri developed a distinctive style that combines abstraction, textured surfaces, and earthy tones. His paintings evoke both the physical and symbolic dimensions of the earth, transforming it into a metaphor for origin and collective memory. He has exhibited widely in Morocco and internationally, including in Italy and Spain, and is recognized for works that invite reflection on the spiritual relationship between people and nature.

Youssef Nadri

Mbarek Timari

Is a contemporary Moroccan painter born in 1979
in El Jadida. Entirely self-taught, he developed his
artistic practice through personal research and
experimentation rather than formal academic
training. This independent path has allowed him to
build a unique visual language that reflects both
his imagination and his sensitivity to human
expression.

Khadija El Fahli

Khadija El Fahli is a self-taught Moroccan painter, born in 1956 in Sidi Kacem and based in Rabat. Passionate about drawing since childhood, she developed her artistic eye by frequently visiting the Bab Rouah Gallery in the 1970s, before painting her first canvas in 2003. A teacher by training, she dedicates herself to painting as an intimate space where memory, emotions, and childhood memories come to life. Her artistic universe blends naïve art, abstraction, and Moroccan heritage, inspired by old alleyways, traditional doors, wrought iron, and Andalusian or
southern atmospheres. Working on canvas, wood, leather, or paper, she seeks to convey human warmth, nostalgia, and hope, guided by her motto: “The child within you carries you.”Since her first exhibition in 2012, she has showcased her work in Morocco and internationally in Paris, Monaco, Madrid, Tunis, and Rio de Janeiro and her pieces, praised for their mastery of color, miniature silhouettes, and visual poetry,continue to resonate with a wide audience while remaining deeply rooted in Moroccan culture and sensibility.

Rabie El Mesnani

Born in 1981 in the artistic hub of Asilah, Rabie El Mesnani is a distinguished contemporary Moroccan painter and sculptor who represents the third generation of a renowned artistic lineage. As a self-taught artist, he describes his creative process as a "puzzle" where each segment of the
canvas is a meticulous abstract composition that builds toward a larger narrative. His style seamlessly bridges modernist abstraction and avantgarde expressionism, characterized by vibrant color fields, layered mixedmedia
textures, and evocative, childlike figures. Beyond the canvas, ElMesnani is equally celebrated for his sculptures, through which he breathes"body and soul" into raw materials to explore themes of human innocence and spiritual interrogation. Today, his work is a staple of the Moroccan art
market, held in prestigious collections across five continents.

M'hmed Boussaboun

Is a Moroccan painter born in1963 in Taliouine. He currently lives and works between Beni Mellal and Marrakech. A self-taught artist, he has developed his artistic practice outside academic institutions, building a personal visual language closely connected to nature, everyday life, and Moroccan cultural heritage

Anwar Belaaroui

Anwar Belaaroui is an accomplished artist born in Marrakech: painter, sculptor, musician… A self-taught artist, he approaches everything with talent. In the field of visual arts, he enjoys techniques such as collage, oil painting, acrylic, charcoal, pastel, watercolor, and airbrushing. Anwar Belaaroui is deeply in love with life. He sharpened his pencils during his school years, spending several years in middle school and then high school (first in accounting, then in fashion design), which allowed him to draw calmly during class hours. Passionate about comic strips and portraits, he “sketches” his classmates, his teachers, and invents new worlds, among other things… A great school for mastering his tools!

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Jamal El Hajoui

Jamal El Hajoui is a contemporary Moroccan painter born in 1977 in Belksiri, a small town in northern Morocco. From an early age, he developed a strong sensitivity toward drawing, colors, and the observation of everyday life. Growing up in an environment deeply connected to Moroccan traditions, he became fascinated by popular scenes, anonymous faces, and the rich visual culture of Morocco’s historic cities. This intimate relationship with memory and heritage later became one of the central foundations of his artistic
language.

Abdelhak Salim

Born in 1984 in Had Soualem, Abdelhak Salim is a prominent figure in the Moroccan neo-figurative movement. Often hailed as a "Painter of Light," he has dedicated his career to capturing the soul of Morocco through a lens of contemporary impressionism. Based in Casablanca, Salim transforms everyday reality into dreamlike scenes through his masterful control of atmosphere and color.

Mohamed Cherkaoui

Is a Moroccan contemporarypainter born in 1980 in Salé, Morocco. He grew up in acity rich in history and traditional craftsmanship, located near Rabat. This cultural and historical environment played an important role in shaping his artistic sensitivity and his visual perception of Moroccan life. From an early age, he showed a strong interest in drawing and colors. He spent much of his time observing urban landscapes, the architecture of the medinas, daily life scenes, and the effects of light in Moroccan streets. These elements later became major sources of inspiration in his artistic work.

Sidi Hbibi Hafid

Hafid Sidi Hbibi is a contemporary Moroccan painter
born in 1948. His work belongs to the generation of
artists influenced by the cultural and artistic
transformations of the 1960s, a period marked
worldwide by the emergence of new philosophical
ideas and modern artistic movements. These
influences contributed to shaping his artistic vision and
his approach to contemporary painting.