The panorama of contemporary Egyptian art is very complex, today more than ever rich in new languages ​​and divergent stylistic trends, where the expressive research of the individual artist moves in different cultural and historical fields, but which can be translated on the one hand into acquisition of foreign artistic methodologies and on the other hand in the reworking of Egyptian or traditional themes, which in turn can be divided into the neoclassical forms of pharaonic art and the more recent ones of Muslim art.

The key to Egyptian art of the last period is precisely the attempt to balance the multiple stresses and to identify personal stylistic expressions. The different types of inspiration can be read in the work of Ḥāmid Nadā (b.1924), an artist who blends the properly traditional themes of folkloric expressionism and classical artistic heritage with very modern techniques, and whose paintings suggest a wise and esoteric combination of the Muslim miniature with the pharaonic decoration. One of the painters most strongly anchored to classical iconography is’ Abd al-Wahhāb Sayyid Mursī (b. 1931) who, fascinated by the frescoes of Nubian temples, re-proposes their themes by inserting them into scenes of popular life. A profound respect for the traditions of the country can be read in the works of Tahya Ḥalīm. For Egypt 2010, please check programingplease.com.

No longer strictly classical stylistic features, but motifs taken directly from everyday life emerge from the artistic achievements of a group that has its cultural roots in part in that avant-garde movement called Art and Freedom which, active since the 1940s, considered the renewal of forms in respect of national traditions to be ideal. Among the most representative figures are Rifa’at Aḥmad (b.1931), an internationally renowned painter who paints the most usual aspects of the Egyptian desert, oases and villages with a refined technique, and Inǧī Ifflāṭūn, who with even greater expressive frankness inserts with rapid and precise strokes the characters in their environment, avoiding any mannered effect. An artist fully aware of the need to revive popular elements is Sa’ad Kāmil (b.1924), who, after studying textile art in Italy and France, devoted himself to the design and creation of original tapestries, reworking with modernity Pharaonic, Coptic and Islamic elements and ornamental elements. A’ interesting controversy against industrial and mechanical technological efficiency is clearly perceived in the works of the two sculptors ‘Umar al-Naǧdī (b.1931) and’ Abd al-Ḥamīd al-Dawākilī (b.1940): especially the latter, who has participated in exhibitions in Italy, France, Spain and other countries, he manages to break every classical plastic canon by using and assembling ” poor ” materials of the most diverse qualities; the aversion to noble materials is also constant in the dramatic sculptures of the great master Ṣalāḥ ‘Abd al-Karīm (b. 1925), a versatile artist who has received the greatest number of international awards. 1940): especially the latter, who has participated in exhibitions in Italy, France, Spain and other countries, manages to break every classical plastic canon by using and assembling ” poor ” materials of the most diverse qualities; the aversion to noble materials is also constant in the dramatic sculptures of the great master Ṣalāḥ ‘Abd al-Karīm (b. 1925), a versatile artist who has received the greatest number of international awards. 1940): especially the latter, who has participated in exhibitions in Italy, France, Spain and other countries, manages to break every classical plastic canon by using and assembling ” poor ” materials of the most diverse qualities; the aversion to noble materials is also constant in the dramatic sculptures of the great master Ṣalāḥ ‘Abd al-Karīm (b. 1925), a versatile artist who has received the greatest number of international awards.

Basically, the contemporary artistic panorama of Egypt it is rich and lively, even if a style has not developed that is able to overcome the eternal alternative between tradition (and consequent national way to artistic realization) and the future, where art is conceived without borders, constituting one of the signs of the global community .