“Alice in Wonderland, which is far from the Disney image we now have, is a dark voyage into recesses of a hellish unknown.”

- Adila Laidi-Hanieh

Alice in Wonderland is a pivotal early work by Fahrelnissa Zeid, marking a transitional moment within her evolving abstract practice. The painting was first exhibited at Galerie Kléber in Paris in 1955, as part of a group exhibition curated by the critic Charles Estienne, which brought together Parisian artists responding to the literary theme. Here, Zeid reimagines Alice’s journey into the rabbit hole as a turbulent descent into colour and motion.

In contrast to the lyrical compositions from later in this period, this painting is defined by a darker, more foreboding palette. Jagged markings and ambiguous, symbolic forms disrupt the surface, signalling a departure from the kaleidoscopic abstractions that defined her earlier style. Adila Laidi-Hanieh writes: “Fahrelnissa introduced a textural novelty to these paintings for the first time in her abstract series; she intervened on the surface of the canvas by carving out tracks onto the white lines with a palette knife, making them bleed as they flash and twist.”

This dynamic, gestural composition appears spontaneous yet Zeid’s diaries reveal a markedly different process, one that is slow, deliberate, and guided by careful intention. The application is vigorous, creating a surface alive with movement, yet beneath this energy lies a disciplined framework, through which Zeid orchestrates disorder into a form of visual lyricism.

Adila Laidi-Hanieh writes: “Despite her many evolutions of style, Fahrelnissa maintained a consistently baroque 'abstract expressionist' approach, not abandoning her expressionistic sensibilities when she moved to abstraction. In everything she did, she always expressed the turmoil of her internal experiences with unexpected and exaggerated contrast of colour and form, jarring motifs, vigorous gestures, and expressive brushwork, in a world of whimsy and fantasy communicated via the paintings' titles, all on a monumental scale.”