Rabat — French artist Théo Lopez has opened a new exhibition at The Ritz-Carlton Rabat, Dar Es Salam, presenting a body of work shaped in part by his encounters with Morocco.
Presented by David Bloch Gallery with support from the Consulate General of France in Rabat, the exhibition runs from October 9 through January 9, 2027. It brings together paintings, works on paper, and sculpture developed with Moroccan metal craftsmen.
The project grew from a connection that began in Barcelona, where Olivier Ramadour, now Consul General of France in Rabat, first met Lopez.
“When I came to Rabat, I felt that the colors of Moroccan zellige and painted wood could enter into dialogue with Théo’s art,” Ramadour told Lifestyle magazine.
He said that impression led him to invite Lopez to experience Morocco more directly.
“I wanted him to come here and discover Moroccan art, experience the Moroccan spirit and the magic of its light and colors, and take that into his heart,” Ramadour said. “That is the result of this exhibition tonight.”
A show conceived for Rabat
For gallerist David Bloch, the exhibition was not designed as a simple presentation of existing work.
“I am delighted to present Théo Lopez’s exhibition at The Ritz-Carlton Rabat, Dar Es Salam,” Bloch told Lifestyle magazine.
He said the presentation includes 25 paintings, works on paper, and a copper sculpture produced in Marrakech with Moroccan coppersmiths.
“Théo works a lot around spirituality and introspection,” Bloch said. “He conceived this exhibition specifically for The Ritz-Carlton, through his experience and vision of Morocco.”
According to Bloch, Lopez’s discovery of Morocco became a genuine source of new ideas for the exhibition, especially through local craftsmanship and visual culture.
Morocco enters the work
Lopez, who has lived in Barcelona since around 2020, said his latest works grew out of his first impressions of Morocco and his encounters with local craftsmanship.
“I am very happy to be here in Rabat, at The Ritz-Carlton Rabat, Dar Es Salam, where I have had the chance to present my latest works,” Lopez told Lifestyle magazine.
He described Morocco as a country whose cultural richness had directly influenced this new production.
“My encounter with Morocco and its craftsmanship had a major influence on this new body of work,” he said.
That influence does not appear through literal depictions of Moroccan architecture or landscape. Lopez remains rooted in abstraction, using line, material, geometry, and contrast to construct compositions that move between spontaneity and control.
His work has long explored spirituality, introspection, and the relationship between opposites. In Rabat, those concerns are extended through material collaborations with Moroccan craftspeople and through a more direct response to the country’s colors and light.
Rabat’s light enters ‘Celestial Blues’
One work Lopez singled out is “Celestial Blues,” a painting connected to the sunsets he encountered in Morocco.
“One of the first things that struck me in Morocco was the sunsets,” he said.
Rabat’s open horizon gave him a particularly strong sense of the sky and the way clouds could shift the relationship between colors.
“Contrast is really what nourishes me,” Lopez said. “Here, there is a relationship between warm and cold, between blues and reds.”
He said the work tries to capture a moment that feels expansive while remaining temporary.
“These are moments that feel eternal, but at the same time they are very brief,” he said. “They are moments that escape us. That is what I try to translate in my work, a sense of eternity.”
Lopez’s time in Rabat has also extended beyond The Ritz-Carlton. In the days before the opening, he worked with visual arts students at Lycée Descartes, exploring color, material, layering, concealment, and space.
The exhibition brings those different encounters together. Lopez’s abstract language remains recognizable, but Morocco enters through craftsmanship, collaboration, light, and material.
The result is less about using Morocco as a visual theme than about showing how a place can begin to reshape the way an artist works.
