Princess Fahrelnissa Zeid

Princess Fahrelnissa Zeid, born in 1901, was a pioneering Turkish artist celebrated for her large-scale abstract paintings characterized by kaleidoscopic patterns. Her artistic journey began as one of the first women to attend art school in Istanbul, where she honed her skills in various mediums including stained glass, mosaics, lithography, printmaking, and collage.

Throughout her life, Zeid lived in several cities, immersing herself in the avant-garde art scenes of 1940s Istanbul and post-war Paris. In Paris, she became associated with the new School of Paris, showcasing her work at prestigious institutions such as the Institute of Contemporary Art in 1954. Her artistic contributions were recognized globally, with exhibitions in Paris, New York, and London.

In the 1970s, Zeid relocated to Amman, Jordan, where she established an art school, furthering her commitment to art education. Her legacy was celebrated in 2017 when Tate Modern organized a major retrospective, honoring her as one of the greatest female artists of the twentieth century. Notably, her painting 'Towards a Sky' sold for just under one million pounds in 2017, while her record sale reached two million seven hundred forty-one thousand dollars for 'Break of the Atom and Vegetal Life' in 2013 at Christie's.

In her personal life, Zeid married Izzet Devrim in 1920, with whom she had three children: Faruk, Nejad, and Şirin. After their divorce in 1934, she married Prince Zeid bin Hussein, a member of the Hashemite royal family of Iraq, and they welcomed a son, Prince Ra'ad bin Zeid.