Divine Protection 1981

Princess Fahrelnissa Zeid created “Divine Protection” and, wow, is this a painting about seeing! The colours are jumping off the canvas, aren't they? It's like the whole thing is vibrating with energy. Look at how she's layered those colours, almost like they're fighting for space. It makes you think about the process, how she was probably pushing and pulling the paint around, maybe even scraping it off and starting again. The colours aren't just sitting there; they're doing something. See how those triangles and diamonds in her dress and that little doll are built up? The mark-making is simple, and that gives it a force, a directness. Reminds me a bit of Hilma af Klint, in the way that she's using abstraction to tap into something bigger than herself. But, where Klint is all about these spiralling forms, Zeid's going for geometry, which makes this painting something else entirely. A whole world of seeing and feeling.