Abdelhak Benallou was born in 1992 in Chlef. After five years of training at the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Algiers, he joined the École Supérieure d’Art de Dunkerque, graduating in 2019, before continuing his studies at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he earned his degree in 2024.
Through his painting, he develops a reflection on behaviors and social relationships within society. His canvases, striking in their realism, first impress with their technical mastery. Yet beyond virtuosity, the true strength of his work lies in the intimate and meticulous attention he gives to reality. His portraits and still lifes reveal a deeply personal gaze, sensitive to the details of a face or the subtle beauty of an everyday object. Through a subtle play of artificial chiaroscuro, he creates an atmosphere in which pictorial realism retains its element of mystery, inviting the viewer to look beyond appearances and enter a space of contemplation and ambiguity.
His work has quickly gained recognition: in 2022, he was awarded a residency at Villa Albertine in Chicago. That same year, he won first prize in the second edition of the Prix Sarr, received the portrait prize from the Amis des Beaux-Arts, and was a finalist for the Bourse Révélations Emerige. More recently, in 2025, he received the Fondation de France Prize during the exhibition Félicités des Beaux-Arts.
