Zubeida Agha

• Name — Zubeida Agha • Born — 1922 • Birthplace — Lyallpur (present-day Faisalabad), Pakistan • Died — 31 October 1997 • Place of death — Islamabad, Pakistan • Education — Kinnaird College for Women University, Lahore, Pakistan Saint Martin's School of Art, London, UK École des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France • Occupation — Painter Artist • Years Active — 1946–1996 • Known for — Modernist Painting

Zubeida Agha was born in 1922 in Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan. After graduating from Kinnaird College for Women University, Lahore, she worked with painter B. C. Sanyal from 1944 to 1946. At this time, she also became well-acquainted with the works of Picasso. She was also influenced by the works of Mario Perlingeri, an Italian prisoner of war in India at that time. The Society of Fine Arts awarded her first prize for modern painting in 1946. She joined Saint Martin's School of Art, London in 1950, later moving on to Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris in 1951. In 1961, she was appointed executive director of the Contemporary Art Gallery in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, receiving the President's Pride of Performance award in 1965.

Zubeida Agha is considered a premier painter of Pakistan and a pioneer of modern art in the country. In the 1940s, she had the courage and determination to launch a modern style of painting. Her style of art first baffled and later overwhelmed art critics and viewers. Colourist painting is characterized by the use of intense colour. Zubeida Agha was one of the great colourist painters in the history of Pakistani painting. She uses colour not only for itself, but to lend truthfulness and depth of meaning to her images, using her imagination to provoke the viewer into thought. In November 2002, a large exhibit of Zubeida Agha's paintings was held at Shakir Ali Museum, Lahore.

On 14 August 2006, Pakistan Post issued a Rs. 40 sheetlet of stamps to posthumously honour 10 Pakistani painters. Besides Zubeida Agha, the other nine painters were: Laila Shahzada, Askari Mian Irani, Sadequain, Ali Imam, Shakir Ali, Anna Molka Ahmed, Zahoor ul Akhlaq, Ahmed Pervez and Bashir Mirza.