Zeinab Abd al-Hamid was born on 27 January 1919 in Qalyubia, an Egyptian governorate located north of Cairo, Egypt. Her early years were marked by the Egyptian Revolution of 1919 and the waves of social, political and cultural shifts in her country. These events influenced her anti-conformist personality, her artistic trajectory and her vision of Egypt. From early on, she developed her painting skills and her passion for art in classes at the studio of the Egyptian artist Hamed Abdallah.