Loch Lomond 1948

Princess Fahrelnissa Zeid painted this frenetic, angular scene of Loch Lomond with oils, building up an image of frenzied activity using broken colour and gestural marks. The colour palette is rich and vibrant, with reds, yellows, blues, and greens all vying for attention. I can imagine her standing before the canvas, brush in hand, tentatively placing one mark, then another, building up the composition in a kind of intuitive dance. The paint looks fairly thin, like watercolour even, but it really carries the weight of the image. Look at the figures and boats – so tiny, but so full of energy! What must it have been like to be her, standing there, trying to capture the chaotic beauty of the scene? Zeid was working in dialogue with abstract painters like Kandinsky, whose work also used non-representational forms to convey mood and feeling. Painting is an exchange, a big conversation that artists have over years. We can experience Loch Lomond as a space of possibility, open to endless interpretation and personal meaning.