Aldine -1972-

• Medium: Oil on canvas

• Dimensions: 100 × 69 cm (stretcher)

• Signed: Lower right

• Date: 1972

Some minor losses on the edges, probably due to a previous framing.

In this 1972 composition, Aldine unfolds an enigmatic landscape where abstraction merges with architectural and mineral evocations. Against a vibrant background of intense blues, dark forms resembling columns or ruins seem to emerge from an indeterminate space, oscillating between a marine horizon and a cosmic landscape.

The fluid lines and material accents across the surface enhance the impression of a world in suspension, simultaneously in construction and decomposition. True to his pictorial language, Aldine combines gestural expression with symbolic suggestion, inviting the viewer to an open interpretation, between memory, mystery, and imagination.

Franco-Egyptian Painter and Sculptor

Born in Cairo in 1917, Abdellatif Ala El Din, known as Aldine, is a distinctive figure of the Second School of Paris. Initially trained in physical and chemical sciences at the Sorbonne, he pursued a scientific career before a decisive encounter in the mid-1940s with art critic Michel Ragon encouraged him to dedicate himself fully to painting and the visual arts.

Settling in France from 1953, he successively held positions as Cultural Attaché at the Egyptian Embassy in Paris and then as Director of the Education Bureau and Permanent Delegate to UNESCO. By the late 1950s, he definitively chose the artistic path and established his studio in Montparnasse.

Both a painter and sculptor, Aldine quickly gained recognition with powerful works such as The Man of Hiroshima, exhibited widely in France and abroad. His artistic journey long oscillated between figuration and abstraction before evolving toward an almost exclusively abstract expression. His canvases, with evocative titles such as The Crucified and The Templars, reflect a spiritual and mystical quest. His pictorial language is characterized by broad brushstrokes, curvilinear contours, and exploration of large thematic cycles: the Nebulae, the Stelae, and the Whirlwinds.

Aldine’s works are now held in major public and private collections, including the Centre Pompidou (Beaubourg), the Musée National d’Art Moderne (MNAM), the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lille, and the Aga Khan Collection.