Born in the popular neighbourhood of Khalifa in Cairo, Egypt, Hamid Nada is one of the leading figures of Egyptian modern art. He was one of the first Egyptian painters to introduce symbolism in his work, which was characterized by the expression of human inner feelings, and inspired by popular traditions, in his work. He joined the Egyptian ‘Group of Contemporary Art’, founded in 1946 by the painter and pedagogue Hussein Youssef Amin (1904–1984), who rejected the traditional approaches to art education and promoted freedom of expression. In 1948, Nada pursued his studies at the School of Fine Arts in Cairo, where he graduated in 1951. He studied in Luxor in 1956, and the following year, he was appointed to the Faculty of Fine Arts in Alexandria. In 1961, he was named professor at the School of Fine Arts in Cairo and became the head of its Painting Department in 1977.