Fez — The “Comptoir Marocain des Œuvres et Objets d’Art” (Moroccan Counter for Works and Art Objects), known as CMOOA, will hold its June 2026 auction on Thursday, June 25 at 6 p.m. in Casablanca, with a public exhibition running from June 13 to 24.

The sale brings together 59 lots and places Moroccan modern art in direct conversation with Orientalist works that have remained in private collections for decades. 

The exhibition is open Monday to Saturday, from 9:30 a.m. to noon and from 2:30 p.m. to 6 p.m., at CMOOA’s Casablanca space.

Moroccan modernity at the center

The auction highlights several artists who shaped Morocco’s modern visual language in the decades after independence.

Collectors will find a Jilali Gharbaoui work from around 1964, an Ahmed Cherkaoui composition from 1963, a rare André Elbaz painting from 1962, and a major Mohammed Kacimi canvas from around 1973-1974.

The selection also includes Mohamed Melehi’s “Al-Maghrib Al Aqsa,” dated 1970-1971, Mohamed Rabi’s triptych from around 1978, works by Chaïbia Talal, and Farid Belkahia’s 2004 “Mappemonde,” inspired by the Moroccan geographer Al-Idrisi.

One of the highest-estimated pieces is Cherkaoui’s “Composition,” an oil on burlap estimated at MAD 1.6 million to MAD 1.8 million ($173,600 to $195,300). Melehi’s “Al-Maghrib Al Aqsa,” shown in the sale material with his signature wave language in orange and green, carries an estimate of MAD 1.5 million to MAD 1.7 million ($162,700 to $184,400).

Rare works and returning names

The June sale also gives special space to Hadj Abdelkrim El Ouazzani, a singular Moroccan artist whose work has drawn renewed attention after long sitting outside the dominant narratives of Moroccan modernism.

That focus gives the auction a corrective edge. The sale does not only repeat the canon; it also opens room for artists whose careers need closer reading.

André Elbaz’s “Composition, Conflans-Sainte-Honorine,” shown on page five of the catalogue material, carries an estimate of MAD 280,000 to MAD 320,000 ($30,400 to $34,700). The blue and orange composition gives the sale one of its strongest visual openings, balancing abstraction with architectural rhythm.

Belkahia’s “Mappemonde d’après le géographe marocain Charif Idrissi,” shown on page nine, is estimated at MAD 800,000 to MAD 1 million ($86,800 to $108,500). The mixed-media work on skin brings together cartography, material memory, and the artist’s long engagement with Moroccan and African visual heritage..

Orientalist works return to market

The auction also includes Orientalist paintings by artists including Armand Point and Jacques Majorelle, placing Western representations of Morocco beside works by Moroccan modernists.

Point’s “Portrait de Femme, Alger,” shown on page eight, is estimated at MAD 250,000 to MAD 300,000. The portrait adds a historical counterpoint to the modern Moroccan works, widening the sale beyond post-independence abstraction.

The result is a sale built around contrast: Moroccan artists defining their own modernity, and foreign artists who once projected Morocco and North Africa through an outside gaze.