ART MUSEUM

It is certainly one of the most beautiful and interesting museums of Algiers. Located just above the Jardin d'Essai, you will have a breathtaking view of the latter via the museum's balcony. It is also one of the largest art museums in Africa.

A little history

The elegant Musée national des Beaux-Arts, designed by Paul Guion, stands majestically opposite the Jardin d'Essai. Inaugurated in 1930 on the occasion of the centennial celebration, it is the largest museum in Algeria. The museum initially received the collections of the former municipal museum of fine arts, which was located on the current site of the Safir Hotel, and then was enriched under the direction of Jean Alazard. During the Algerian war, France repatriated many works, and it was not until 1965 that the museum reopened and 1968 that the institution recovered its works. The museum will not cease to be enriched in particular through donations and the acquisition of works of contemporary Algerian artists. The museum presents a collection of European paintings from the fourteenth to the twentieth century (Fantin-Latour, Pissaro, Gauguin, Corot, Monet, Vuillard or Utrillo), sculptures, including works by Rodin, Maillol, Bourdelle and Belmondo. Three rooms are devoted to Orientalism which spread from 1830 through the works of Eugene Delacroix, Alfred Dehodencq, Theodore Chassériau, Auguste Renoir, Eugene Fromentin or Etienne-Nasreddine Dinet. Algerian art is represented by a collection of works by Mohamed Temmam, Abdelhalim Hemche, Mohamed Ranem, Bachir Yellès and by the work of artists of the "school of the sign", including Mohamed Khadda, and those of the collective Aouchem, Denis Martinez, Baya, Mesli Choukri ... The Algerianist current is represented by the works of Albert Marquet mainly featuring views of the port. The museum also presents contemporary Algerian artists such as Boutaleb, Mohamed Bouzid, Baya, Mohamed Khadda, Abdallah Benanteur, and several international artists such as Wilfredo Lam, Roberto Matta, Ernest Pignon-Ernest ... who supported the Algerian cause and who donated works in 1963, on the occasion of the exhibition "Art and Revolution". The cabinet of prints presents a sublime collection of the Algerian master of the miniature and the illumination; Mohamed Racim.

The library of the museum has been renovated and offers since April 2009 a new space for reading, cultural meetings and workshops. The pleasant terrace of the museum offers a majestic view of the Jardin d'Essai.