Born in 1965, Kamel Mennour, a graduate in Economics, started his career as a gallery owner late in life. In 1999, he embarked on the adventure of contemporary art without any connection to the field. Today, his eponymous gallery represents over 40 artists and presents their work through exhibitions across its four spaces in Paris and beyond.

The essence of the gallery is to discover and gain recognition for exceptional artists through collaboration. It has fostered the careers of a younger generation including Hicham Berrada, Mohamed Bourouissa, Petrit Halilaj, Camille Henrot and Alicja Kwade, alongside representing some of the most renowned artists working today such as Daniel Buren, Ann Veronica Janssens, Anish Kapoor, Tadashi Kawamata, Lee Ufan and Ugo Rondinone. It also contributes to the promotion and dissemination of major artists from the 20th century who have marked the history of art such as Alberto Giacometti, François Morellet, Jean Degottex and Judit Reigl.

Kamel Mennour supports numerous projects of these artists in France and abroad and collaborates with major international institutions such as the Centre Pompidou, the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, the Panthéon, the Palais de Tokyo, the Palace of Versailles, the Tate Modern, the Martin Gropius Bau, the Guggenheim, the MET, the MoMA, the Dia Foundation, the Power Station of Art, the M+, the Mori Art Museum, the Daegu Art Museum, among others. He also encourages research work, through his publishing house and the release of monographs, collective catalogs and the organization of debates and panels involving artists, critics and curators.

For more than 20 years, he has been taking part in major events, as the Venice Biennale, documenta or Monumenta, as well as international art fairs such as Abu Dhabi Art, ART021, Art Basel (Basel, Paris, Miami, Hong Kong), Frieze (London, Masters, New York, Seoul), Taipei Dangdai, TEFAF (Maastricht, New York).

In 2015, Kamel Mennour initiated the charity auction HEROES that raises money for the benefit of Institut Imagine, a unique centre entirely dedicated to research, care and teaching in the field of genetic illness. Over five editions, the cumulative amount contributed by HEROES for Imagine has reached more than €32 million.

In 2023, he founded the Mennour Institute to promote research and education in the field of twentieth and twenty-first-century art. Through doctoral fellowships, educational programs and philanthropic activities, Mennour Institute is committed to supporting creativity, knowledge and the sharing of ideas in the field of modern and contemporary art.

In 2025, Kamel Mennour announced an exceptional donation of 180 artworks to the collections of the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris. This donation, expected to include more than 45 artists, will reflect the richness and diversity of the gallery’s history since its creation in 1999, as well as the quality of its unique vision. The Mennour donation will be exhibited in 2027 in the museum and the exhibition will be accompanied by an extensive catalogue. 

He was named Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters in 2010 and Knight of the National Order of Merit in 2023.