Pain

Teaching at a primary school in the early 1950s, Hamed Nada became interested in the works of his younger pupils particularly in the way they convey deep expressions. Pain, executed in 1951, is a clear example of how he interpreted energy and emotions through aesthetic means, as well as epitomising Nada’s adherence to the Contemporary Art Group. Depicting a dimmed interior modestly furnished with two anonymous figures, the scene is intriguing, unsettling and almost tragic as the woman holds the lain body of a bold man dying in her arms. The lack of perspective narrows the space in a disconcerting way which forces the viewer to come closer to the reality of death and to share the empathy and anxiety of the scene. The heavy atmosphere is emphasised by the oil lamp and by the empty chair on the right side of the wall, two recurring motives from Nada’s oeuvre that metaphorically materialise the human soul. While teaching, he read philosophical and psychological books that undeniably influenced his view on the social status of underprivileged people. Loaded with fatalistic working-class social issues such as unemployment, anxiety, superstition and distress, Nada unleashed these feelings through emotionally powerful yet disturbingly silent compositions epitomised by the present work. Pain is an exceptional work that underlines the artist’s uniqueness, along with fellow Egyptian artist Abdel Hadi El-Gazzar, to be one of the first to use superstitious symbols to betray human psychology and unconscious fear.