Fatima El Hajj

Fatima El-Hajj is a prize-winning Lebanese painter who grew up in the coastal village of Rmeileh, near Saida, South Lebanon. 

She graduated in 1973 from the Lebanese University’s Institut des Beaux-Arts (INBA), before continuing her studies in the Soviet Union at the Academy of Fine Arts in Leningrad (today Saint Petersburg) and in Paris at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, until 1983. 

The picturesque surroundings of her childhood have remained a major influence on El-Hajj’s practice throughout her career, alongside the beauty of the natural world that captivated her during her travels. Parks, gardens and landscapes in her homeland and lush green havens, complete with flowers in bloom, in Luxembourg, Morocco, Yemen and France, among other destinations, are brought to life in compositions marked by a masterful layering of glorious, harmonious colours and texture. 

Exquisite play on light gives these scenes a tranquil and enchanting quality, in compositions that El-Hajj has described as an examination of “communion between nature and the self” and an invitation for audiences to seek out their own “interior garden”. In other, contrasting, figurative works, she immerses herself in tales of times gone by, creating scenes where history and mythology overlap, with her hallmark oil and acrylic colourful palette replaced by monochrome. 

El-Hajj counts the French-Lebanese artist Shafic Abboud, who also tutored her, as a key influence, while drawing on the practices of key Impressionists, post-Impressionists and Modernists as she carved out her own identity. Commenting in ‘Le Monde’, Thierry Savatier said of her practice: “As a colourist, she does not neglect the effects of texture. The movement, light and shapes suggested in her paintings, beautifully merge together, sometimes bringing the work on the verge of abstraction.”

El-Hajj’s art has featured in exhibitions extensively worldwide since the mid-1980s, especially in the Arab region and Europe. Recent solo shows include: ‘La Robe des Saisons’, Mark Hachem Gallery, Beirut (2024); ‘Une Promenade dans la Nature’, Mark Hachem Gallery, Beirut (2023); ‘Balades Levantines’, Mark Hachem Gallery, Beirut (2022); ‘Homage to Antarah’, Contemporary Art Platform (CAP), Kuwait (2020); ‘Those were the Days’, Anima Gallery, Doha, Qatar (2020); ‘Colours of Happiness. Autumn in Paris’, Espace Claude Lemand, Paris (2019); ‘Harmonies Musicales’, Galerie Alwane, Saïfi Village, Beirut (2018); ‘Inner Music’, Galerie Claude Lemand, Paris (2017); ‘My Gardens’, Recent Paintings, Galerie Claude Lemand, Paris (2015); ‘The Song of the Earth’, Recent Paintings, Galerie Claude Lemand, Paris (2014); and ‘Gardens of the Soul’, Recent Paintings, Galerie Claude Lemand, Paris (2011).

She has also taken part in numerous group shows, including: Abu Dhabi Art  (2024); Art Dubai (2024); ‘Modern & Contemporary Middle Eastern Art’, Artscoops (2024); ‘Summer Finds’, Artscoops (2024); ‘Middle East Moderne & Contemporain’, Mark Hachem Gallery, Beirut (2023); MENART Fair, with Mark Hachem Gallery (2023); ‘Art for Chance’, Mark Hachem Gallery , Beirut (2022); Asia Now Art Fair, with Mark Hachem Gallery (2022). ‘Drawings from the Arab World’, Museum, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, [donation Claude and France Lemand] (2019); Museum, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, [donation Claude and France Lemand] (2018/2019); ‘Masterpieces’, Espace Claude Lemand, Paris (2018); ‘From East and West’, Art Paris Art Fair (2016); Grand Palaise (2016); ‘Festival of Small size Works’, Galerie Claude Lemand, Paris (2013); ‘Art of Lebanon’, Galerie Claude Lemand, Paris (2013); ‘The Lebanese Creativity’, Espace Claude Lemand, Paris (2012). El-Hajj also exhibited regularly at Galerie Alwane, Saïfi Village, Beirut and Kaslik, Jounieh, in shows in 2016, 2013, 2012, 2008 and 2001, among others. 

El-Hajj is the recipient of several prizes and awards which include: Souad Al Sabah’s Prize, Kuwait (2017); ‘Hommage aux Vétérans de la Culture au Liban et dans le Monde Arabe XXVIIème, Generation 2012, Fatima El-Hajj’, Antelias, Beirut (2012); First Award, EMAAR International Art Symposium (EIAS) Dubai (2007); Second Award in Lazikiah Biennial, Syria (2002); the International Picasso Award, The Spanish Culture Institute and the Public Administration of Cultural Relations, Ministry of Foreign affairs, Madrid, Spain (1985); and the International Picasso Award, The Spanish Culture Institute, Beirut (1984).

She has taught for several years in Beirut at the Institut des Beaux-Arts.