BNP Paribas El Djazair attended the first reception ceremony honouring the arrival of artworks donated from private collections for the benefit of public museums and art galleries. The Minister of Culture was present, the Director of Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture, and Laurent Dupuch, the CEO of BNP Paribas El Djazair.

On behalf of BNP Paribas El Djazair, Mr. Dupuch donated two paintings by Etienne Dinet, the renowned French Orientalist painter, to the National Fine Arts Museum of Algiers. These paintings, “The Blind Man, or the Recklessness of Youth” and “The Ambush”, were inspired from the painter’s extended stays in Algeria. They represent, respectively, the plight of a blind man and a battle scene.

Following a number of voyages to Algeria, beginning in 1884, the artist moved permanently to Bou-Saâda in 1905. He learned to speak Arabic and to understand Algerian culture, and even converted to Islam in 1913, taking the name Nasreddine Dinet. He became known for the care with which he depicted the natives of the South, and for his figurative, almost impressionistic painting style.

Through its gift of these two paintings, the bank is contributing to the preservation of Algeria’s cultural heritage and further demonstrating its commitment to Algerian society.