Born to a highly educated family of artists and poets, he was the son of a pioneering female artist Fahrelnissa Zeid, and taught by Léopold Lévy at the Istanbul Academy of Fine Art. Moving to Paris in 1946, Nejad Devrim became an intellectual of the highest order claiming Marcel Duchamp, Gertrude Stain and Alice B. Toklas as close friends.

Here is the first Turkish painter to hold a solo exhibition of abstract art in Paris, in March of 1947 and is acclaimed as one of the most remarkable artists of the Ecole de Paris.

Although clearly passionate about Paris, Devrim never forgot his cultural roots and infatuation with the Byzantine mosaics he studied in Istanbul. His profound ability to synthesize the bold use of vibrant...