Born in 1928 in Fez, Morocco, Ahmed Ben Driss El Yacoubi was a writer, poet, and painter who came from a family of traditional healers. El Yacoubi received a religious education, and although he used to sculpt or draw at a very young age, his father was against any artistic hobby. In 1947, he met the American author and composer Paul Bowles and started translating for him and illustrating his stories' characters. The latter encouraged the artist to draw and paint more and develop his style. And with his wife, they highly contributed to the career-launching by organizing his first exhibition at Gallimard bookshop in Tangier in 1951. In the late 1960s, the artist traveled to New York and, fascinated by the city, settled, and he would stay there until his death. The oeuvre of the painter is characterized by enigmatic and abstract compositions that appear as representations of the cosmos. Ahmed Ben Driss El Yacoubi died in 1985.

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