Ahmed Cherkaoui, The Humble Beginnings of Thought and Language (Les humbles commencements de la pensée et du langage), 1967, Oil on Canvas, 100.8 x 133.9 cm (with Frame).

Ahmed Cherkaoui was a pioneer and one of the most important modernist painters in Moroccan art especially during the time of Morocco independence in 1956. He was born on October 2, 1934, Boujad, Morocco and died on August 17, 1967, Casablanca, Morocco. In 1961, Cherkaoui received a scholarship to study at the Fine Arts Academy in Warsaw as part of Moroccan-Polish exchanges, and he was inspired by Polish avant-garde art, operating progressively with burlap and mixed media. Cherkaoui began developing his style compositions with thick, clear, and bright colors; he mostly uses circular, ovoid, and lines to emphasize the shapes in the artwork. An example of this style is the above artwork where Cherkaoui uses bold, thick black lines to illustrate the spherical and ovoid shapes. Moreover, the artist uses vivid colors like yellow, red, blue, and green, he also choses a white background to allow the colors to stand out clearly.