Souhila Belbahar (alternatively Souhila Bel Bahar; 17 February 1934 – 23 March 2023) was an Algerian painter. In 2018, she was awarded Algeria's National Order of Merit.

Biography

Belbahar was born in

Blida Blida () is a city in Algeria. It is the capital of Blida Province, and it is located about 45 km south-west of Algiers, the national capital. The name ''Blida'', i.e. ''bulaydah'', is a diminutive of the Arabic word ''belda'', city. Ge ...

, Algeria, in 1934. A self-taught artist, she held her first exhibition in 1971, at the age of 37. Since that time, she has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions in

Algiers Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many Communes of Algeria, communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Offi ...

. The Algerian Cultural Centre in Paris hosted a solo exhibition of Belbahar's works in 1986. Belbahar exhibited at the

National Museum of Fine Arts of Algiers The National Museum of Fine Arts in Algiers () is one of the largest art museums in Africa. Opened to the public since 5 May 1930, it is located in the Hamma district, next to the Hamma test garden. The museum, with its 8,000 works, include ...

in 1984. The museum held a retrospective exhibition of her works in 2008. In 2016, the museum published ''Il pleut des jasmins sur Alger'', a biography of Belbahar written by her daughter, Dalila Hafiz. In 2018, Belbahar was awarded the National Order of Merit by the Algerian Minister of Culture, Azzedine Mihoubi. Belbahar died on 23 March 2023, at the age of 89.L'artiste peintre Souhila Belbahar n'est plus

References

1934 births 2023 deaths Algerian women painters 20th-century Algerian women 20th-century Algerian people 20th-century Algerian painters People from Blida 21st-century Algerian people 20th-century women painters {{Africa-painter-stub