George Bahgoury EGYPTIAN, b. 1932

George Bahgoury (b. 1932, Egypt) Acclaimed Egyptian-French painter George Bahgoury creates cubist-style paintings that tap into the colourful history of Egyptian popular culture and heritage.

Beginning his career as a cartoonist in the late 1950s for a magazine called Rose El Youssef, Bahgoury’s figurative style, sarcasm, political awareness, and satire infiltrated his later transition to painting. Among a generation of cartoonists who promoted the Nasserist ideology of Pan-Arabism, women’s rights, and national reform, Bahgoury infuses his artworks with the residue of Egyptian national history and culture. Periodically referencing popular icons of the era, like diva Umm Kalthoum, in his painted works, Bahgoury's paintings playfully evoke a sense of deep nostalgia, historical reflection, and cultural preservation.

After completing a degree at Egypt’s Fine Arts Institute, Bahgoury left his home country in the early 1970s to study at the Fine Arts Institute of Paris, where he lived for the following three decades. Receiving numerous prestigious awards, Bahgoury has published six books, three of which were dedicated to art. Bahgoury's work has been showcased internationally, including in the Middle East and Europe.