The museum commemorates painter Mohammed Nagy, who co-pioneered the Egyptian modern art after his return from Florence. Nagy lived in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria and traveled to Italy to study art. He had to return to Egypt prior to the outbreak of the World War One. Entertaining a radical attitude against classic rules of art he devoted himself to Impressionism. In his work he produced a blend of Egypt’s past and present. He was fascinated with Nature and murals made by ancient Egyptian artisans. His paintings are beautifully transparent, displaying powerful and elaborate compositions.
Determined to complete his painting “Alexandria School” Nagy decided in 1952 to turn a plot of land he owned in Hadayek al-Ahram into a studio. He began to paint the monumental work in 1939 when he was the director of the Museum of Modern Art. In the wake of his death in his studio, the Ministry of Culture in 1962 paid tribute to the late artist by buying his studio and turning it into a museum. The painter’s sister Effat Nagy, also a painter, appreciatively offered 40 works to the new museum, which also received a large collection of sketches and the late brother’s memorabilia. On July 13, 1968 the Minister of Culture Tharwat Okasha opened the museum officially. Its exhibits increased significantly in 1987, especially after the Ministry of Culture bought larger number of the artist’s oil paintings. The ministry’s enthusiasm in this respect invited the painter’s devoted sister to offer more of her brother’s works to the museum, increasing the number of its exhibits to 1200.
The Mohammed Nagy Museum was re-opened in 1991 after it successfully underwent a big renovation and restoration plan