Ola Abdallah

Ola Abdallah is A Syrian artist and art historian who was born in Aleppo but spent her early years in Paris. She returned to her country of birth aged 18 and studied at the Damascus Faculty of Fine Arts. She continued her studies in France, first at the Paris Ecole des Beaux-Arts and later at the Arts Plastiques Dept of the University of Paris, where she earned a doctorate for her thesis on the French artist Aurélie Nemours. 

Now living in Paris, Abdallah takes inspiration from her homeland in her art, drawing on Syria’s expansive landscapes, light and color code, especially the shades of the natural world, from the golds of the desert to the verdant hues of a spring field and the blues of the sea and sky. Her work also shows the influence of calligraphy and geometric abstraction, together with the in-depth knowledge and expertise she has acquired over the years of the techniques and creative talent of the artists she has studied.

Abdallah plays a key role in supporting Syrian refugee artists in Paris, having co-founded an association with this aim, named ‘Portes ouvertes sur l’art’, fundraising and organizing collective exhibitions of their work in her space.