fbpx Biennale Arte 2024 | Mahmoud SaÏd
La Biennale di Venezia

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Mahmoud SaÏd

Alexandria, Egypt, 1897–1964


  • TUE - SUN
    20/04 > 30/09
    11 AM - 7 PM

    01/10 > 24/11
    10 AM - 6 PM
  • Central Pavilion
  • Admission with ticket

Mahmoud Saïd resigned from his role as judge at the Mixed Courts in Alexandria in 1947 to dedicate his life to artmaking. Throughout his career, Saïd produced a significant series of portraits of women, such as Haguer (1923). The work was exhibited for the first time in a group show for modern Egyptian artists in 1924 in Cairo. Here, Saïd depicted a woman sitting on the floor with her back resting against a wall and staring at the viewer. Contrary to the women from the Westernised local elite, the character doesn’t wear any jewellery and is attired in a simple dark dress with light blue headwear. The Alexandrian painter thus reveals that the model comes from the working class, as she is also posing in a humble manner, her hands clasped. However, he gave this ordinary woman a sacred aspect by reflecting a golden external light on her tanned complexion. Saïd liked to celebrate the lives and customs of ordinary Egyptian folk, who personify the essence of the Egyptian identity.

—Arthur Debsi

Central Pavilion
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Biennale Arte
Biennale Arte