Algerian artist Baya Mahieddine was born Fatma Haddad Mahieddine, but chose to be known as “Baya”.

Her distinctive body of work seamlessly blends elements from her Arab and Kabyle heritage with the influences of French modernism, nurtured within the studios of the Parisian avant-garde, including André Breton, Henri Matisse, and Pablo Picasso. Her artworks come to life in a world of vibrant floral fields, where gracefully dressed female figures inhabit ornate environments filled with lush flora. Through her gouaches and paintings, Baya steadily upheld her unique artistic vision, consistently pushing against entrenched national and cultural boundaries. Following an interruption during the turbulent period around Algerian independence in the 1960s, Baya returned to her canvases and paper. She created a series of artworks where musical instruments, birds, and fantastical creatures adorned the surroundings of her central female characters. Baya’s enchanting world is defined by her ability to transcend conventional artistic shapes and forms and challenge North African conservatism through works. While her artworks have been categorized as “naïve” or “brut”, labels she resisted, she retained the purity and lightness of expression she possessed since her youth, qualities that initially drew Aimé Maeght’s attention. Baya’s legacy is a testament to her enduring commitment of her vision, one that defied women’s representation back then, adorned in the middle of an imaginative environment of patterns.