Skip to main content

Farah Atassi Genius Loci

May 23 — Dec 14, 2025 | Museo Picasso Málaga, Spain

Genius Loci is a Latin expression that translates as ‘the spirit of the place.’ In Roman mythology it referred to a deity or protective spirit that inhabited a certain place but in a more modern context the term is used to describe the particular atmosphere of a place, whether a physical, cultural or even emotional environment. Hence for Marjolaine Lévy, Picasso’s spectral presence in this exhibition could be defined in the following way: ‘Picassian ghosts intrude into a world which is not their own, that of the stage, and even when they are not on the theatrical stage, they inhabit mysterious places where the curtain persists.’ The exhibition’s title thus invites us to imagine that Farah Atassi’s works exhibited at the Museo Picasso Málaga start to acquire a life of their own, charged with a subtle energy that transcends the visual forms.

Farah Atassi, a promising figure in the field of contemporary art, has created a body of work that is markedly influenced by geometrical forms and spatial interplay. Atassi, whose work establishes dialogues with great masters of modern art such as Pablo Picasso, will be presenting an artistic proposal that is not simply a reinterpretation of the Cubist tradition but rather an exploration of the expressive possibilities of space in contemporary painting.

Born in Brussels in 1981, Farah Atassi studied at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in Paris and has been acclaimed for her unique style, which combines the tradition of figurative painting with a clear Cubist influence and a very personal approach to the representation of space. In the exhibition Genius Loci she explores a series of works created between 2015 and 2025 in which she continues to challenge the conventions of pictorial space.

Atassi’s painting, which frequently seems to be constructed in the manner of a building, does not aim at a faithful reproduction of reality. The precise lines and objects represented in her paintings seem to belong to a parallel world where time stands still, evoking a feeling of mystery. The exhibition’s title, Genius Loci, suggests a connection with the concept of the ‘spirit of the place’, where the spaces created by the artist take on a life of their own, charged with a subtle energy that transcends the geometric forms. The exhibition is curated by art historian Marjolaine Lévy.

Press release

  • read or download in English