Aydin Aghdashloo

A comprehensive survey of the work by one of the famous masters of modern Iranian painting.

Painter Aydin Aghdashloo is one of the most recognized Iranian artists. Known for his highly elaborate technique, he has produced a body of work deeply influenced by the socio-political circumstances of his home country, while in dialogue with universal concepts. His style draws on a multiplicity of sources, from Renaissance paintings to Persian classical art, subverting them in what often becomes a poignant critique of tyranny and destruction of beauty. Aghdashloo served as Cultural Advisor to Empress of Iran, Farah Pahlavi, contributing as a museologist, cultural diplomat, and policymaker until the 1979 Iranian Revolution. He published a dozen books on contemporary culture and Islamic art history. In 2016 he was awarded Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the Government of France. In 2021 his work was shown alongside masterpieces by the Early Netherlandish painter Hans Memling in Bruges, Belgium.