Inside the world's first museum dedicated to Sufi art and culture

Newly opened Paris venue explores the rich history of the Islamic practice through 300 objects

The museum is housed in a carefully restored 19th-century mansion on the banks of the Seine. Photo: Museum of Sufi Art and Culture MTO

Paris is synonymous with art, history and culture. It is home to countless galleries, museums and other wonders. And this autumn, a new institution will join the French capital’s already rich cultural tapestry: the Museum of Sufi Art and Culture MTO.

It is the first of its kind and is dedicated to the art and culture of Islamic Sufism. Situated in the calm and pleasant suburb of Chatou, close to the famous Island of Impressionists, it opened its doors last week. It is housed within a carefully restored 19th-century mansion on the banks of the Seine and holds a treasure trove of about 300 Sufi cultural objects from the collections of the Maktab Tarighat Oveyssi Shahmaghsoudi School of Islamic Sufism.

“The school was originally contemporary of the prophets, so it has existed for a long time,” museum director Alexandra Baudelot tells The National. “Previously, it was based in Iran. During the revolution, the school started to develop itself around the world, mostly in the United States and Canada, but also in Europe, France and Germany. The collection started to spread all over the world.

“The project of the museum was to put the entire collection in one space, and then to develop the collection with other objects coming from other eras and geographical areas where Sufism has a strong history.”

Sufism is a mystic religious practice within Islam, emphasising a personal, spiritual journey towards a state of inner purification under the guidance of a master. Experience and wisdom are transmitted from one generation to the next in an unbroken chain of students and masters, said to extend all the way back to the Prophet Mohammed. During this time, the beliefs, rituals and practices of the Sufis have inspired many extraordinary artworks throughout the Islamic world.

Far from being a simple historical archive, however, the museum believes in demonstrating the contemporary relevance and significance of Sufi thought and ideas. With this in mind, it invited seven international artists for the first edition of what will become a biannual series of exhibitions – titled An Inner Sky – placing contemporary art in dialogue with the museum’s collection.

“We wanted to show the universality of Sufism, and how Sufism is deeply connected to lots of different topics,” said Baudelot. “These artists can really highlight these things. If we just invite artists who are Sufi or Muslim, it's not going to illustrate that. It's really a dialogue between cultures.”

Spread across three floors, the staging of An Inner Sky represents the different steps of a Sufi student through their journey towards enlightenment. As visitors enter on the ground floor, they are greeted with an exploration of the roots of Sufism, accompanied by various devotional and symbolic artefacts.

On the first floor, the exhibition moves to the question of transmission, showing how Sufi lessons are shared between masters and students, alongside different artistic representations of Sufism through poetry, calligraphy and music. Both of these stages also include contemporary artworks – many of which have been created for the exhibition – shown in dialogue with their Sufi inspirations.

On the second and final floor, the exhibition concludes with the idea of transformation, using the illumination of the uppermost loft to invoke a connection between the Earth and the greater cosmos. The topmost section has the most contemporary artworks exploring the artists’ connections with the world and their different cosmological approaches.

Chloe Quenum, an artist from France who also exhibited, draws inspiration from stories gathered from around the world, recreating narratives that highlight the singularity of voices and the power of cultures ignored by history. Her untitled piece, which takes the form of multiple blown glass objects, was inspired by the importance of breath in Sufism.

“Materialising the breath with the technique of blown glass seemed very meaningful and poetic to me,” explained Quenum. “There is also a connection with language, in the sense that breath contains the meaning of words when we are speaking. In my approach, I manipulate graphic, linguistic and movable elements from various cultures that I extract from their context and schematise.”

Zimbabwean artist Troy Makaza executes his works using a unique, pigment-infused silicone. Specifically created for the exhibition, his contemporary work Mutiwaora – a Shona name loosely translated as “decayed tree” – was inspired by a visit to a mountain in Nyamuzuwe, a rural area in Zimbabwe.

“What really surprised me is that, at the entrance to a cave located in that mountain, there were rock paintings,” recalled Makaza. “Rock art is perceived as recordings of a simple, yet socially complex, way of life. I had a transformative experience as I was praying in that cave. I could feel a connection to something bigger than my own understanding. The work itself shows my translation of this spiritual encounter at the mountain.

“This exhibition gave me a chance to reflect on my spirituality. In Zimbabwe, African traditional religion is only practised by a few because it is demonised, due to the mysticism associated with it. My preferred working palette is usually bright and vibrant but, in this case, I made it softer and pale with tonal variations, to suggest a devaluation of knowledge lost through time.”

Moroccan artist Younes Rahmoun’s practice is heavily influenced by Sufism, as well as Zen Buddhism and meditation. These references are reflected in his use of colour, form, numbers and concepts, as seen in his Maison series of sculptures.

“For me, the house represents the place where we can be in harmony with the universe, and also ourselves,” says Rahmoun. “In one piece, for example, there are two houses; one inside the lake, and the other one on the mountain. These are two states of being for the same person; one when we are alone, and the other one when we are with the universe.

“Another piece comprises seven houses where they are all the same – the same size; the same form; the same design – but each one has a different colour. This represents the infinity of multiculturality. All of them are transparent, but not perfectly. A human is not perfect, but they can attempt to be.”

Also showing are several artworks by the late Iranian artist Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, one of the most influential artists of her generation. Her work takes an intuitive, fluid approach, combining the geometric patterns and mosaic techniques of her homeland with modern Western geometric abstraction.

“Monir’s artwork, much like the artist herself, is often a dialogue between two compliments: past and present; tactile and spiritual; geometric and abstract,” said Darya Isham, Farmanfarmaian’s granddaughter and head of her estate. “Each shape takes up its own space, while being part of the larger composition. It is the tactile nature of cutting and placing and gluing each piece that combines into a spiritual pursuit. Likewise, Monir’s calligraphy takes an ancient meditation practice to create a singular aesthetic composition. Monir takes a simple symbol, draws on her past, meditates in her present, and produces something both beautiful and mystic.”