She received professional vocal training at the Shanghai Music Academy, and then studied composition and modern dance after relocating to Paris in 1948[2] with her then husband, painter Zao Wou-ki.
Xie Jinglan, nickname Lan-lan, who later changed her name to Lalan, was born on September 14, 1921, in Guiyang, Guizhou Provence, China.
At a young age, Lalan had a gift for music and dance and was able to cultivate her talent thanks to her father Xie Meigen, who was a great flute musician and a scholar.
[5] At the time, the headmaster of Hangzhou School of art was artist Lin Fengmian, who studied in France before coming back to China to teach.
In 1948, after 36 days of travelling, Lalan and Zao arrived in France and settled down on Rue du Moulin-Vert District 14 Paris, and became neighbours of the sculptor Alberto Giacometti.
Without the title of "the artist's wife", Lalan started her independent art career and ventured into the realms of painting, composing and choreography.
In her practices, she incorporate the Chinese traditional Taoism philosophy, and the Lyrical Abstraction at the time, finding her unique voice in the Integrated art that she created since the 1970s.
As a self-taught painter, she learnt about the language of modern painting through Lyrical Abstraction, started by artists like Georges Mathieu, Pierre Soulages, joined by Zao Wou-ki.
Different from the early works, the paintings from this period appeared much in tranquil: the color palette became lighter and softer while the rhythmic lines became more refined, depicting natural elements such as mountains, rocks and the moon.
[7] One of her three paneled painting, Sudden Blue (Soudain Bleu) staged for her choreography show "Le Cycle", was in the permanent collection of the Culture Ministry of France.
Lalan was experimenting with new techniques such as painting ultra-fine intuitive lines and dripping to create harmonious yet explosive works.