Two Generations of Rainbow İstanbul Modern bir anne ve oğlun, Fahrelnissa Zeid(1901-1991) ve Nejad Devrim'in (1923-1995) kapsamlı sergilerine ev sahipliği yapıyor.

Istanbul Modern brought together works by Fahrelnissa Zeid and Nejad Devrim, pioneers of Turkey’s modern art, for the first time. Representing the first generations of the century and the Republic respectively, the exhibition "Fahrelnissa and Nejad: Two Generations of Rainbow" united the mother and son, opened on May 18, 2006, with the contributions of Eti. Curated by Haldun Dostoğlu, the exhibition showcased 160 artworks from local and international, private, and public collections.

While Fahrelnissa Zeid, born in 1901, represents the first generation of the century, Nejad Devrim, born in 1923, epitomizes the first generation of the Republic. Uniting the mother and son under the same roof for the first time in history, the exhibition dealt with the experience of these two very special generations in our history. The most powerful works from every milestone in Fahrelnissa and Nejad’s artistic careers, who produced some of the most important abstract paintings of our art history, were shown together with the life stories of these two avantgarde, singular artists.

Born to diplomat, commander, photographer, and historian Şakir Paşa, grand vizier Cevat Paşa’s brother, and Cretan Sare Ismet Hanım, Fahrelnissa Zeid comes from the Şakir Paşa Family which raised many military men, administrators, and scientists. A group of Ottoman intellectuals, the family is among the influential humanists of the Republic. Fahrelnissa Zeid is the sister of Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı, famous author with the pen name Halikarnas Balıkçısı [The Fisherman of Halicarnassus], painter Aliye Berger, and aunt of ceramic artist Füreya Koral. She has two children from her marriage to author İzzet Melih Devrim, painter Nejad Devrim and director and theater actor Şirin Devrim.

Their lives began in the same mansion in Istanbul’s Büyükada [Prinkipo Island], continued in different corners of the world sometimes without awareness, sometimes with anger towards each other; also ended far away from one another. Fahrelnissa Zeid lived and worked in European cities except for the metropoles such as London and Paris, and then spent the rest of her life in Amman, Jordan, where she moved after the death of her husband in 1976. Nejad Devrim, on the other hand, left Paris, his home of 20 years, in 1968 at the height of his career and moved to a remote village in Poland, where he eventually passed away.

The exhibition "Fahrelnissa and Nejad: Two Generations of Rainbow" gave us the opportunity to observe the adventures of two distinctive artists, a mother and son, in juxtaposition and jointly document the creative processes of two generations from two different starting points.

Curator: Haldun Dostoğlu