Farid Belkahia was born on 15 November 1934 in Marrakech; and d​​ied on 25 September 2014 in Marrakech. He is not only a pioneer of modern art in Morocco but also a pioneer of modern Arab art. Born into a small bourgeois milieu that was particularly open to art, Belkahia had an early introduction to painting facilitated through his father, M’Hamed Belkahia. At his parental home, many artists were received by his father. Namely, the Polish painters Antoine (1931-2010) and Olek Teslar (1900-1952) who became permanent residents at Belkahia’s house, as well as Jeannine Guillou (1909-1946). Additionally, his father was a collector of Berber and Arab rugs and traditional furniture, he also painted in his free time. Farid Belkahia was raised by his grandmother, due to his parent’s divorce. 

From a young age, he attended French schools in Morocco (El Jadida in 1945, and lycée Mangin in 1950). After graduating from secondary school, he moved to Paris to study art at l’École des beaux-arts from 1955 to 1959. Soon after, he relocated to Prague and attended the Theatre Institute to study scenography, from 1959 to 1961. While Belkahia was in Paris, he experimented with drawing and oil painting, met many writers and intellectuals, and participated in many local and international exhibitions, including the World Festival of Youth and Students in Warsaw, the Alexandria Biennial, Paris, and Washington. As a young artist, he was preoccupied with his identity. Thus, he embarked on a self-discovery journey in 1958 where he visited many Arab countries such as Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Palestine to try to find an answer to his questions par rapport his cultural affiliation. In the 1960s, Belkahia was immensely influenced by the work of Paul Klee. Particularly, Belkahia’s early works drew inspiration from Klee’s drawings whereby he explored themes of torture, revolution, the forest, violence, and the human condition. 

Upon his return to Morocco in 1962, Belkahia became the director of l’École de Casablanca and retained that position until 1974. He was joined by Mohamed Melehi and Mohamed Chabâa who formed the Casablanca Group, as well as researchers such as Toni Maraini and Bert Flint. This group of teachers have transformed the academic experience into a unique experimental and multidisciplinary one. Together with the Casablanca Group, Belkahia exhibited at Théâtre Mohammed V in Rabat in 1966, and they notably held the Présence plastique exhibition in Jemaâ el-Fna in Marrakech in 1969. 

From 1963 onwards, Belkahia abandoned traditional easels and oil paintings and turned towards large-scale hammered copper, leather, and other materials with an application of traditional Moroccan techniques. As such, he manipulated copper resulting in organic shapes. His body of work has integrated symbols and shapes that reference the body and corporeality. Certainly, these shapes figured into triangles, arrows, circles, palms, landscapes, and dawns to evoke questions of sexuality and the human condition. Similarly, he employed elements from his Moroccan cultures, such as Amazigh and Tifinagh letters, natural dyes, rugs, tattoos, and architecture. All of these elements have been re-constructed to create a new visual vocabulary explicit to Belkahia’s oeuvre. 

Internationally renowned, Farid Belkahia held solo exhibitions at ​Galerie Mamounia, Rabat (1955-1957); Darat al Funun, Amman (1995); Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Nice (1999); Musée des Arts d’Afrique et d’Océanie, Paris (1999); Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha (2016); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2021). Similarly, he participated in group exhibitions, including ​Biennial of Alexandria, Alexandria (1956); Festival of Negro Arts, Dakar (1966); ​Biennale de Sao Paolo, Sao Paolo (1988); Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris (1994); Venice Biennial, Venice (1997); and Biennale de Lyon (2000).