1948年，谢景兰跟随赵无极来到法国以后，置身于新抽象艺术的氛围里。这种抽象艺术讲求作画者的自发冲动和自由表达，画面多为无规则构图。在到巴黎的最初几年里，她和赵无极结识了很多在巴黎的抽象画家，这些艺术家中很多人都对东方艺术充满向往，并受其影响。

1956年，谢景兰离开了赵无极，结束了他们16年的婚姻；两年后，她与音乐家Marcel van Thienen结婚。在离开赵无极后，谢景兰更名Lalan，开始正式作画。摆脱了男性艺术家缪斯的身份后，她终于开始了独立的自由创作。1960年，Lalan在法国的Creuze画廊展出了她的第一批作品。画展获得成功后，她开始从中国的传统文化中吸收营养，从古汉字和金石图案中寻找灵感。她在作品中把汉字符号发展成了线条，创作出了一批这样的融合了汉字符号的抽象作品。因为从小就接受传统文化的教育，练习书法，她对汉字符号在油画中的使用有着不同于西方艺术家的熟悉。在这个时期，她还创作了一批运用厚涂颜料和强烈色彩的油画，并对光的表现进行了特意的探索。

60年代中期，Lalan迁居距巴黎北角不远的一个乡村住宅。这时，她遇到了创作上的困境，甚至有一年的时间未能下笔。从1966到1969年，她从纸上作品中寻求新的形式和技巧。与此同时，她还研究中国唐宋的山水画的庄子思想。1969年，她开始尝试不同规格尺寸的画纸，如长卷和竖卷，包括一些三折屏风。

Lalan found herself in the arms of New Abstractionism after she went to France with Zao Wou-ki in 1948. This type of art emphasizes the spontaneous impulse and free expression of the painter, whose composition of the tableau is rarely fettered by rules and patterns. During their first years in Paris, she and Zao made the acquaintances of many abstract artists, the majority of whom were attracted and influenced by the art of the Orient.

In 1956, her marriage with Zao, which had lasted for sixteen years, came to an end. Two years later, she married musician Marcel van Thienen. Her post-Zao days saw her new career as a painter. Above being the muse of male artists, she seized the opportunity for free and independent creation. In 1960, she exhibited her first works at the Creuze Gallery.

Soon after her successful début, she turned to suck vigor from traditional Chinese culture and seek inspirations from not only the ancient characters of the Han tongue but the scripts of bronze-ware and stone carving. In her works, she based her lines on Chinese-character symbols and thereby created a series of abstract works. Since she had been educated in the old fashion and had begun practicing calligraphy as a young girl, she was particularly familiar with the employment of Chinese-character symbols in oil paintings, distinguishing herself from Western artists. In this period, she made a number of oil paintings with thickly coated pigment and bold color, exploring the representation of light purposefully and carefully.

In the mid-sixties, she moved to a village to the north of Paris. Then and there, she had a block about creation and could not paint for about a year. From 1966 to 1969, she worked hard to acquire new forms and techniques from paper works. Meanwhile, she studied the thought of Master Chuang (i.e., Zhuang Zi in pinyin), as reflected in the landscapes of the Tang and Song dynasties. In 1969, she experimented with paper of different forms and sizes, such as scrolls, vertical rolls, and, less often, triptych screens.