“The abstract has always existed. [In the past] we had to deal with perspective, composition, but this essential rhythm which was the hard nucleus of the work [of art] had to be dressed, furnished if one can say that for the satisfaction of the eye that searched for visual and sensual beauty. Today with the abstract, man has reached the summits - man goes towards the infinite - space - it is a window open from our world. Why must we always see with the eyes of this world, why not see farther and enlarge the visual orb and reach even the divine, in a circle traversed by cosmic waves? [...] So why hold on to primary and infantile details, a portrait, a chair, and a child? All this has been done and redone. It can add nothing to the spectator's mind who wants to learn, to be struck by sensations, like one who searches for the north wind at sea in the midst of winter to feel washed, refreshed and cleansed of all that has been accumulated in him of miasma and refuse from the city.”

- Fahrelnissa Zeid

Adam and Eve and the Broken World is a historically significant work by Fahrelnissa Zeid which predates her full commitment to abstraction, occupying a crucial position within the evolution of her practice and exhibited only twice prior, first at Gimpel and Fils, London in 1948, and later at Hugo Gallery, New York in 1950.

This geometric composition bridges Zeid’s figurative beginnings and her later abstract language, reflecting an early and exploratory engagement with abstraction. Traces of the figurative painter remain evident in the nuanced modulation of tone, visible brushwork, and the subtle modelling of form. These elements anchor the composition, even as it begins to morph into a more fragmented and abstracted visual field.

The subject of Adam and Eve introduces a symbolic dimension. Here, two figures are depicted holding a fractured world, which may be read as a reflection of the profound upheavals of the postwar era experienced in the aftermath of World War II. In this context, the painting can be understood as both personal and universal in an attempt to reconcile with an irrevocably altered world.