Over a decade of successful Beirut Art Fair in Lebanon and galore of beautiful artworks, the Middle Eastern art fair has newfound love in the streets of the French capital—Paris.

MENART Fair, one of the first international modern and contemporary art fair, dedicated to artists from the Middle East & North Africa had to shift base to Paris until Lebanon had managed to rebuild itself.

It was in 2010, when the French-born fell in love with Lebanon and Middle East art, giving birth to the fair. She was firm to contribute to the Mediterranean country that had become her second home.

It was due to the catastrophic port explosion in August last year and the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the Beirut Art Fair was unable to take place. The pioneer of the fair, Laure d’Hauteville had to then shift to Paris.

The fair took place from May 27 to 30, 2021 at Cornette de Saint Cyr on Paris’ upmarket Avenue Hoche and saw galleries in different rooms across three floors of the private residence and auction house. With the opening of the artistic season in Paris, over 2,500 visitors came to the fair, of which around 90 per cent were French.

It was due to this, a new window opened to the European art lovers who got to view art from the MENA region. While they were not used to viewing art from the region, Laure and artistic director, Joanna Chevalier was on site to explain to visitors the various facets of the works on display.

While d’Hauteville hopes to reorganise the Beirut Art Fair, when the situation in Lebanon recovers, for now, she is focused on building a base for Middle Eastern art, with a special effort on supporting artists and galleries from Lebanon.