Nour-Eddine Jarram

watercolours, paintings

11 October – 15 November 2026

Sunday 25 October Art Walk The Hague 13.00 – 17:00 hours

Refugees and migrants have played a significant role in the work of Nour-Eddine Jarram (1956) for some years now. Coming from Casablanca in 1979 to continue his art education at the AKI Academy Enschede NL, he is no stranger to the difficult path of the migrant who has to find his way in western society. From this Empathy, he depicts the subject in poignant, moving watercolours, based on news photos and selfies that young migrants post on social media.

His series Moroccan Younths, in which young migrants present themselves self-assured as well as vulnerable, was acquired by the Rijksmuseum as a document of our contemporary society. The subject remains relevant and urgent, particularly given the rising intolerance and xenophobia that is increasingly fueled by populist politicians. Recently Jarram created several watercolours in response to the migrant crisis in the Spanish exclave Ceuta in Morocco.

Last year a number of Jarram’s watercolours were featured at the Chabot Museum Rotterdam in the exhibition When I Was You showing highlights from the collection of Bob and Annelies van Eerd. Director Colin Huizing immediately recognized a connection between Nour-Eddine Jarram’s watercolours and the expressionist paintings by Henk Chabot (1894–1949), depicting refugees and displaced persons during the Second World War. Both artists demonstrate a profound concern for the vulnerable fellow human being, as well as for themes of identity, injustice, freedom, and human dignity. Although Jarram was barely familiar with Chabot’s work, the similarities in style, composition, and subject matter are striking. They also share an admiration for the work of Rembrandt, Jarram through his use of dramatic light-dark contrasts, Chabot through Rembrandt’s sense of freedom and humanity. In the exhibition Mensen Zoals Wij (People Like Us) at the Chabot Museum, Nour-Eddine Jarram’s watercolours are coupled with the paintings of Henk Chabot. The exhibition is open as of 25 October and runs through 7 March 2027. More information at: chabotmuseum.nl

At Galerie Maurits van de Laar Nour-Eddine Jarram presents recent watercolours and works on paper, amongst them moving portraits of young refugees that often have a serene beauty and innocence despite their charged content.