Footnotes

Provenance:
Property from a private collection, Beirut
Acquired from Zamalek Gallery, 2005, Cairo, directly from the collection of the artist

Exhibited:
Cairo, Museum of Modern Art, Gazbia Sirry: First Solo Exhibition, Egypt, 1953
Zamalek Gallery, Masterpieces III, 2005, Cairo


Published:
Mursi Saad El-Din, Gazbia Sirry: Lust for Color, AUC Press, 1998, illustrated in black and white
Fatenn Mostafa Kanafani, Gazbia Sirry: When Modern Arab Form Meets Politics, post: notes on art in a global context, MoMa, New York, 2021


A rare and exquisite 1951 painting exhibited at Gazbia's landmark first solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in Cairo, the earliest work by the artist ever to come to auction

"I am obsessed by the human condition. I see humanity everywhere: in houses, in plants, in patterns.. so the content is always human and ordinary, even if a little fantastic..." - Gazbia Sirry

"In this series of paintings, Sirry calls upon the sacred light of ancient Egyptian temples, the rich colour of Coptic textiles, and the geometric themes of Islamic art. Playing with light and darkness, she repeats and juxtaposes vibrant motifs and patterns on walls, floors, and clothes" - Fatenn Mostafa Kanafani

"In the first stage of Gazbia's career, which lasted about twelve years from 1948, she produced a series of oil painting dealing with subjects from daily life that charm the viewer. Keen on achieving balance between lines, forms and structure, colours are selected from the favourite colours of the material of popular clothes – thus all elements of the work unite in great harmony" - Aime Azar

"She graduated in 1949 from the institute of fine arts and began to exhibit in 1951. At that time, a decidedly figurative painting was connected to descriptions of social reality: women with profound Egyptian eyes in iconic compositions" - Carmine Sinisicalco

"A Woman with Water Pots" (1951) stands as a defining early masterpiece by Gazbia Sirry, one of Egypt's most influential modernist painters. Created during the formative years of her career and exhibited in her landmark first solo show at the Museum of Modern Art in Cairo, this work captures Sirry's deeply humanistic and socially engaged vision - a world where the ordinary becomes iconic, and the daily life of women is rendered with dignity, power, and timeless presence.

In this painting, a woman stands alongside a collection of water pots - banal, utilitarian vessels elevated here into near-sacred icons. They are arranged almost like ceremonial objects, echoing still life compositions from European modernism but firmly rooted in Egyptian domestic ritual. Sirry charges the moment with a quiet monumentality: the figure is still, flat, and frontal - part of her early visual language influenced by Coptic textiles, ancient frescoes, and pharaonic stelae. The patterned dress, tablecloth, and striped curtain in the background build a dense network of motifs and textures, drawing from the decorative vocabulary of vernacular Egyptian art while asserting a modernist commitment to surface and symbol.

Sirry's work from this period can be compared to the emotional immediacy of Gauguin's Vahine no te vi and the decorative boldness of Matisse's Méditation - Après le bain. Like Gauguin, Sirry elevates the everyday female subject to a position of mythic stillness, imbuing her with symbolic weight. Similarly to Matisse, she finds resonance in pattern and colour as both form and expression, drawing attention to the interior lives of her subjects through the environments they inhabit.

But where Gauguin exoticised and Matisse idealised, Sirry localised. Her women are not muses or abstractions but figures of labour, dignity, and introspection - reflective of a broader engagement with the struggles of common women in postcolonial Egyptian society. A Woman with Water Pots marks one of the earliest visual statements in her decades-long commitment to portraying social reality through a uniquely Egyptian modernist lens.

This is the earliest known work by Gazbia Sirry ever to appear at auction. It is not only a rare glimpse into her foundational period, it is also an iconic piece of Egyptian art history, preserved in the memory of her first museum exhibition and immortalised in one of the era's most widely circulated photographs of that show.

Gazbia Sirry

Gazbia Sirry was one of the most significant and pioneering figures in 20th-century Arab art. Her seven-decade career was marked by constant innovation, political consciousness, and a deep commitment to portraying the realities and inner lives of Egyptian women. Her paintings, known for their expressive force, symbolic patterning, and iconic, flattened figures, trace the history of modern Egypt as seen through the eyes of one of its most engaged cultural voices.

Born in Cairo in 1925, Sirry came of age during a moment of great intellectual and political ferment. She studied at the Higher Institute of Fine Arts for Women Teachers, and later received scholarships to study abroad in Paris (École des Beaux-Arts), Rome, and London. These experiences immersed her in the European modernist tradition - from Fauvism and Expressionism to Cubism - which she would later absorb, reinterpret, and profoundly localise in her own distinct visual language.

Sirry's early work in the 1950s and early 1960s coincided with Egypt's revolutionary moment under Gamal Abdel Nasser and a rising wave of Pan-Arab and socialist consciousness. These influences can be seen clearly in her depictions of working-class women - washerwomen, water carriers, and peasant mothers - rendered with gravity, dignity, and powerful simplicity. Her figures from this period are often monumental in form but emotionally restrained, echoing ancient Egyptian statuary as well as Coptic iconography and folk textiles.

At the core of Sirry's work was a passionate belief in the social and political agency of women. She was one of the first Arab artists to centre the female experience not as muse or allegory but as subject and protagonist. Her paintings do not just reflect women's external roles - they speak of their interior lives, their burdens, and their strength. This focus was deeply radical at a time when both the art world and the broader public discourse often marginalised or idealised women's realities.

In the 1960s and 70s, Sirry's work evolved in response to political repression and surveillance during Nasser's later years. After being briefly imprisoned and placed under surveillance in 1959, her paintings became more abstract, emotionally turbulent, and coded - reflecting a climate of fear and censorship. Even in abstraction, her commitment to human struggle and dignity never waned. Over time, she returned to figuration, often infusing her canvases with more colour, light, and spirituality, while still foregrounding themes of exile, identity, and resistance.

Throughout her career, Sirry exhibited extensively both in Egypt and internationally. Her work was shown in over 60 solo exhibitions across Europe, North America, and the Arab world, and featured in major biennales including São Paulo, Venice, and Alexandria. Her art is housed in prestigious collections such as the Museum of Modern Egyptian Art (Cairo), the British Museum, the Arab Museum of Modern Art (Mathaf), and the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.

In later life, she was widely celebrated as a foundational figure in Arab modernism and a trailblazer for generations of women artists. She remained active in both artistic and academic circles, mentoring younger artists and continuing to paint into her 90s. She passed away in 2021, leaving behind a legacy that is both national and universal: a body of work that bridges East and West, tradition and innovation, personal truth and collective memory.