Fahrelnissa Zeid, from Ottoman princess to modernist rebel, defied expectations with her bold use of color, courage, and cosmopolitan flair. If there was ever a painter who bridged continents, cultures, and canvases with dramatic flair, it was Fahrelnissa Zeid.

Born into Ottoman aristocracy, married into Jordanian royalty, and celebrated on international art stages, Zeid defied conventions at every turn. Her life reads like a novel, and her paintings explode like firecrackers on canvas, bold, mathematical, and emotional.

From Aristocracy to Abstract Art

Fahrelnissa Zeid was born in 1901 in Istanbul into one of the most distinguished families of the late Ottoman Empire. Her father, Shakir Pasha, was an Ottoman diplomat and historian. Her uncle, Cevat Pasha, served as the Grand Vizier. Zeid grew up surrounded by politics, art, and intellectual stimulation. Her family tree was a tapestry of thinkers, writers, and creatives, including her own sister, the writer Halikarnas Balikcisi, Cevat Sakir Kabaagacli.

Early tragedy struck when her father was murdered by her older brother in a family altercation, an event that haunted her but also seeded her art with emotional depth.

Teachers and Training.

She began studying art in 1919 at the Istanbul Academy of Fine Arts for Women. Later, she moved to Paris and trained at the Académie Ranson under Roger Bissière, who was connected to the Nabis group. However, it was in Germany, at the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin, that she encountered the abstract and expressionist movements that would shape her future.

Zeid’s education was eclectic and international, as was her perspective. She combined the traditional techniques she learned in Istanbul with the avant-garde ideas blooming across Europe.

No Ordinary Royal Life

In 1934, Fahrelnissa married Prince Zeid bin Hussein of Iraq. When his brother, King Faisal I, died, Zeid became Iraq’s ambassador to various countries. Fahrelnissa found herself the hostess of diplomatic salons in Berlin, London, and Baghdad, all while continuing to paint.

She had four children, one of whom, Prince Raad bin Zeid, became Jordan’s lord chamberlain. While her role as a royal consort entailed ceremonial duties, Fahrelnissa never relinquished her identity as an artist. Instead, she painted more feverishly, turning her salons into galleries and cultural salons.

Quote to Remember: “I am not an Oriental painter. I am not an Occidental painter. I am a painter.” – Fahrelnissa Zeid

Style: Explosions of Emotion and Geometry

Fahrelnissa’s style evolved constantly. In the 1940s and 1950s, she became known for her massive abstract works, filled with vibrant colors and geometric patterns that sometimes resembled stained glass windows, mosaics, or maps of imagined cities.

Her canvases often look like they’re vibrating dense mosaics of swirling color that seem to pulse with life. Yet she also experimented with portraiture and figuration, often depicting friends, family, or fellow artists in stylized forms.

Anecdote: In 1950, Fahrelnissa was the first woman to have a solo exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London. British critics were stunned. “A one-woman whirlwind,” wrote one reviewer.

Later Years and an Unexpected Turn

In the 1970s, after the assassination of her husband and subsequent relocation to Amman, Jordan, she began teaching art to young women, founding the Royal National Jordanian Institute of Fine Arts. She continued painting, often on chicken bones and trash, transforming decay into art.

Her later works were minor but deeply personal, miniature explosions of emotion. She passed away in 1991 in Amman, at the age of 89.

Fun Fact: She painted right up until the end of her life, sometimes using kitchen tables as easels and household items as brushes.

Most Famous Works and Where to Find Them:

My Hell (1951) – Tate Modern, London A psychological and visual labyrinth painted after a personal breakdown.

Fahrelnissa Zeid – Third Class Passengers, 1943, Oil paint on plywood, 130 x 100 cm. © The Raad Zeid Al-Hussein Collection (left) / Fahrelnissa Zeid – Resolved Problems, 1948, Oil paint on canvas, 130 x 97 cm. © Raad Zeid Al-Hussein Collection & Istanbul Museum of Modern Art (right)

TRT World and Agencies: Zeid’s paintings titles, such as ‘The Octopus of Triton’, an abstract work from 1953.

Loch Lomond Princess Fahrelnissa Zeid 1948

Legacy

Fahrelnissa Zeid’s legacy is that of a transcontinental, transhistorical visionary. Her life defied the expected path for a woman of her birth and status. Her art defied the boundaries of East and West, figuration and abstraction, royalty and rebellion.

She’s celebrated today in major retrospectives, including a landmark exhibition at Tate Modern in 2017, and her name is finally mentioned alongside the greats of postwar abstraction.

Conclusion: The Princess Who Painted Beyond Borders Fahrelnissa Zeid lived many lives: Ottoman noblewoman, diplomatic hostess, avant-garde icon, grieving widow, and joyful mentor. But most of all, she lived as an artist, unyielding, fearless, and full of color.

She didn’t just paint what she saw. She painted what she felt—and what she dreamed.

Coming next: Guerrilla Girls: The Revolutionary Feminist Group

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrelnissa_Zeid (All referenced info and artworks from public domain or copyright-free sources)

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/fahrelnissa-zeid-22489

https://www.barjeelartfoundation.org/artist/fahrelnissa-zeid/

https://www.istanbulmodern.org/en/collection/collection/fahrelnissa-zeid_1594.html