Hocine Ziani was born in 1953 in a poor rural region of Kabylie in Algeria and grew up during the Algerian War. He started school at 11 and ended up studying accounting. Painting was his lifelong passion, but he only gave up accounting in 1978 to begin a career as a professional painter.

He spent 3 years of military service in the Sahara Desert, in the Hogar. Ziani says the unique hues of the desert are tattooed in his mind and a constant presence on his palette.

He still paints today, is in museums, and sold works to governments, royal families, heads of states like Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez. He is most popular in the Arab world and in France. See more at Hocine Ziani’s personal site.

Ziani‘s influences are most interesting as he embraced late 19th century figuratives esthetics, notably Orientalism.

Hocine Ziani also paints historical battles, desert landscapes, running horses, nature mortes (when featuring wine, they are a big seller) and spirituality scenes. He loves Venice.

Par Hocine Ziani — Rodert, Domaine public, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20436433

Par Hocine Ziani — Rodert; Transferred from fr.wikipedia; transferred to Commons by User:Coyau using CommonsHelper., Domaine public, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6102306

Par Rodert — Travail personnel, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=79135216

Par Rodert — Travail personnel, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=79060760