Cultivate who you become

Since the 1990s, the Franco-Egyptian photographer-videographer Youssef Nabil has created a distinctive visual body of work, strongly influenced by his first visit to the Musée d’Orsay in 1992. The exhibition “Still Dreaming” (May 19 – September 13, 2026) marks an important milestone in his career, and particularly his unprecedented investment in the museum’s orientalist gallery. Nabil, born in 1972, explores dreams and memory through colorful, hand-painted portraits, evoking Orientalist and symbolic currents. The work, notably the self-portrait “The Dream,” is part of a lineage with Puvis de Chavannes, testifying to a fascination with aesthetics and narrative. This exhibition offers a unique perspective on the evolution of his style and his relationship to symbolism, a core element of this aesthetic connection. Admission costs between €0 and €16.