Everything You Need to Know About Art Cairo 2026

In Egypt, buying art is surrounded by an air of mystique. Where do you find art that you like? Who do you reach out to? How do you keep up with an exhibit agenda that is constantly shifting? For the novel art buyer, these questions make the process of purchasing art pieces inaccessible. 

Art Cairo, an annual fine arts fair taking place in the Grand Egyptian Museum from January 23rd to the 26th, creates a space for these questions to be answered. As one of the MENA region’s biggest fairs and Egypt’s only one, the fair brings artists from all over the region - Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain and more - to a single destination, making art buying easier to navigate. 

"Art Cairo is about making Arab art visible, accessible, and part of everyday cultural life." says Mohammed Younis, the founder and director of Art Cairo, "The fair was built to support artists and galleries from the region and connect them with a global art dialogue."

Besides giving buyers the room to explore potential additions to their home, interact with the artists behind them, and peruse a gallery of nearly 200 artists’ work, Art Cairo creates room for a dialogue around fine art. The fair brings a schedule of panels that connect galleries, curators, artists and buyers in discussions about their respective processes, and about how the intersection of their work shapes Cairo’s art scene. 

This year marks Art Cairo’s seventh edition. Framed by the theme “Arab. Art. Here.”, inspired by Mahmoud Darwish’s quote “This is my language, my miracle, my magic wand,” the fair centres the Arabic language at the heart of the creative process. This year’s edition also pays tribute to the late Egyptian artist Guirguis Lotfi, honouring his enduring influence on generations of painters and storytellers.