The exhibition’s first edition, held on 8 May 2024, celebrated Rabindranath Tagore’s birth anniversary.

Meanwhile, the exhibition's second edition features 38 caricature portraits and marks the culmination of the Tagore-Mahfouz Caricature Contest, which attracted numerous global artists.

The winners will be announced by the end of the exhibition, 17 December. The Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Cultural in Cairo will award three financial prizes.

The works are exhibited at the Naguib Mahfouz Museum in Tekkeyet Abul-Dahab (near Al-Azhar Mosque). The museum encompasses works by 38 caricaturists from 12 countries, including India, Serbia, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, China, Romania, Peru, Russia, Poland, Syria, and Venezuela. 

Among the Egyptian artists participating are Ahmed Alawi, Hosni Abbas, Adham Lotfy, Farouk Moussa, Tharwat Mortada, Ghada Mustafa, Hadir Yehia, Hany Abdel Gawad, Marwa Ibrahim, Omar Sedeq, Shaimaa Shafei, Yasmin Gamal, and worldwide artists.

According to artist Fawzy Morsi, exhibition coordinator, the artworks celebrate both figures’ cultural and literary contributions.

One standout piece is by Romanian artist Marian Avramescu, which depicts the two literary icons looking in the same direction. The painting symbolizes their shared cultural and literary vision, which led them to win the Nobel Prize. Its backdrop underscores this remarkable achievement.

Another notable artwork embodies Mahfouz’s Egyptian identity. It shows him seated atop one of the Great Pyramids of Giza, holding a novel from which the Nobel Prize medal dangles, symbolizing his overall literary legacy. In contrast, Tagore is portrayed sitting on a stack of books and stories, inviting viewers into a world rich with knowledge and culture.

Adding a whimsical touch, a black-and-white caricature shows Mahfouz and Tagore facing each other, extending a hand of peace, framed together in an emblem of unity.

The Indian Embassy in Cairo organizes the Mahfouz-Tagore exhibition in collaboration with the Cultural Development Fund, the Caricature Museum in Fayoum, and the Egypt Cartoon platform. Visitors can also explore the museum’s public library and extensive collection of works across various knowledge fields.

The Naguib Mahfouz Museum, inaugurated in 2019, covers an area of approximately 1,300 square metres. It has three levels — one ground floor and two upper floors — and an entrance adorned with a large portrait of Mahfouz.

In celebration of Mahfouz's 113th birth anniversary, the museum has re-established its public library, occupying four halls on the ground floor. The library boasts a vast collection spanning various disciplines, including literature, culture, philosophy, science, social studies, and translations. It also features encyclopedias across diverse fields and translations in several languages, including Persian, English, German, Spanish, and Chinese.

The museum contains Mahfouz’s library and another section dedicated to various editions of his works, alongside critical studies exploring his life and literary contributions.

Naguib Mahfouz (1911-2006), Egypt’s first Nobel laureate in literature (1988), authored dozens of novels. Most of them gained widespread recognition for their portrayal of Egyptian society, creating a microcosm of the country. Many of his novels were adapted into films or television series.

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), a poet, playwright, and novelist, was born in Kolkata, India. In 1913, he became the first Eastern writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Tagore enriched humanity with over a thousand poems, 25 plays, and numerous books, essays, and lectures on philosophy, religion, education, politics, and social issues.