Le Monde highlighted Abdullah for his use of tempra which reflected the environment in which he was raised. Abdullah’s preoccupation with his roots is shown in his choice of subjects like the traditional family and popular cafés.
A self-taught artist, Hamed Abdullah began painting and drawing at the age of ten. As the son of a peasant, he lived in Cairo's Manial district surrounded by fields and the Nile. By the time Abdullah was in his 20s he had already established himself as a reputed artist. He opened an art school and taught some of the most renowned Egyptian painters, including Tahia Halim (1919-2003) and Inji Efflatoun (1924-1989).
Art critic Badr El Din Abu Ghazi considers him as one of the leading figures of the second generation of Egyptian artists. In 1952, Abdallah left Egypt for Paris where he continued his artistic career and remained there for the rest of his life. He became well known in Paris and was able to make a living from his art. In 1983, he returned to Egypt to make a retrospective exhibition of his work covering over half a century. The latest period of his work showcased Abdullah’s experimentation with calligraphy. His calligraphic forms were unique in that they were not static but full of motion, giving rise to a deeper meaning. Abdullah was also the first to use silk and colored crunched paper in his calligraphy.
An art critic in Le Monde highlighted Abdullah for his use of tempra which reflected the environment in which he was raised. Abdullah’s preoccupation with his roots is shown in his choice of subjects like the traditional Egyptian family and popular cafés. Towards the end of his career, Abdullah demonstrated his affinity to the purity of popular Egyptian art and children’s drawings on walls.