(b Alexandria, 1888; d Cairo, 1956). Egyptian painter. He was educated at the Université de Lyon in France, where he studied law, and also at the School of Fine Arts, Cairo, and at Giverny under Monet. During the 1920s he worked for the Egyptian diplomatic service at embassies abroad, but increasingly devoted himself to painting, developing an Impressionist style and in 1927 becoming a member of a group of artists in Cairo called La Chimère, which included the sculptor Mahmud Mukhtar, and the painters Mahmud Said and Raghib Ayyad (1892–1982). Among his paintings of this period was the canvas mural The Village (1928; Alexandria, Mus. F.A. & Cult. Cent.). In 1930, not long after a diplomatic mission in Brazil, he left for Abyssinia [now Ethiopia], where he spent a year at the embassy in Addis Ababa. He studied the landscape of the country and painted portraits of Emperor Haile Selassie I and other notable figures. Around this time also he studied indigenous Egyptian art. These and other influences led to works such as the Bread Bakers (1934; Alexandria, Mus. F.A.). After his Abyssinian expedition he became increasingly involved in painting murals for a number of public buildings, notably the Renaissance of Egypt (1935; Cairo, Senate), which depicts a slow colourful procession. In the early 1950s he formed the Atelier Group, which had branches in Cairo and Alexandria. He spent much of his life travelling and painting abroad, and in Egypt set up studios in Alexandria, Luxor, Memphis and in Cairo, where his old studio has become the Mohammed Naghi Museum.

• Naghi, Muhammad
  • Cairo, §II: Art life and organization
  • Egypt, §III: Painting and sculpture