The treasure trove of art worth billions ‘hidden’ in Tehran

It has been dubbed one of many world’s rarest treasure troves of artwork however few folks outdoors its host nation learn about it.

For many years, masterpieces by the likes of Pablo Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh, Andy Warhol and Jackson Pollock have been stored within the basement of a museum in Iran’s capital Tehran, shrouded in thriller.

In line with estimates in 2018, the gathering is price as much as $3bn.

Solely a small portion of the work has been exhibited because the 1979 Iranian Revolution however lately, the Tehran Museum of Modern Artwork has been showcasing a few of its most charming items.

The Eye to Eye exhibition on the Tehran Museum of Modern Artwork, which opened in October 2024, was prolonged twice as a consequence of overwhelming public demand, working till January 2025.

The show was broadly thought to be one of the crucial important exhibitions within the historical past of the museum, and it additionally grew to become its most visited.

The showcase featured greater than 15 works unveiled for the primary time, together with a sculpture by Jean Dubuffet – marking its first-ever look in an Iranian exhibition.

From summary expressionism to pop artwork, the gathering on the museum serves as a time capsule of pivotal creative actions.

Among the many art work is Warhol’s portrait of Farah Pahlavi – Iran’s final queen – a uncommon piece mixing his pop artwork aptitude with Iranian cultural historical past.

Elsewhere, Francis Bacon’s work referred to as Two Figures Mendacity on a Mattress with Attendants exhibits figures showing to spy on two bare males mendacity on a mattress.

On the alternative wall within the basement of the museum, a portrait of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founding father of the Islamic Republic of Iran, is on show in juxtaposition.

The museum was in-built 1977 beneath the patronage of Pahlavi, the exiled widow of the final Shah of Iran who was overthrown in the course of the revolution.

Pahlavi was a passionate artwork advocate and her cousin, architect Kamran Diba, designed the museum.

It was established to introduce trendy artwork to Iranians and to bridge Iran nearer to the worldwide artwork scene.

The museum quickly grew to become dwelling to a shocking array of works by luminaries together with Picasso, Warhol and Salvador Dali, alongside items by main Iranian modernists, and rapidly established itself as a beacon of cultural alternate and creative ambition.

However then got here the 1979 revolution. Iran grew to become an Islamic republic because the monarchy was overthrown and clerics assumed political management beneath Ayatollah Khomeini.

Many artworks had been deemed inappropriate for public show due to nudity, non secular sensitivities or political implications.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Gabrielle with Open Shirt was deemed too scandalous. And Warhol’s portrait of the previous queen of Iran was too political. The truth is, Pahlavi’s portrait was vandalised and torn aside with a knife in the course of the revolutionary turmoil.

After the revolution, lots of the artworks had been locked away, amassing mud in a basement that grew to become the stuff of artwork world legend.

It was solely within the late Nineties that the museum reclaimed its cultural significance in the course of the reformist presidency of Mohammad Khatami.

Out of the blue the world remembered what it had been lacking. Artwork lovers couldn’t consider their eyes. Van Gogh, Dali, even Monet – all in Tehran.

Some items had been loaned to main exhibitions in Europe and the US, briefly reconnecting the gathering with the worldwide artwork world.

Hamid Keshmirshekan, an artwork historian primarily based in London, has studied the gathering and calls it “one of many rarest treasure troves of contemporary artwork outdoors the West”.

The gathering consists of Henry’s Moore’s Reclining Determine sequence – an iconic piece by one among Britain’s most celebrated sculptors – and Jackson Pollock’s Mural on Indian Purple Floor, a vibrant instance of the American’s portray method pulsing with power and emotion.

Picasso’s The Painter and His Mannequin – his largest canvas from 1927 – additionally options, a powerful instance of his summary works from the post-cubism interval.

And there’s Van Gogh’s At Eternity’s Gate – one of many very uncommon survivals of his first printmaking marketing campaign throughout which he produced six lithographs in November 1882.

However for artwork lovers in Britain, the gathering is out of attain. The UK Overseas Workplace advises in opposition to all journey to Iran and says British and British-Iranian twin nationals are at important danger of arrest, questioning or detention.

Having a British passport or connections to the UK will be purpose sufficient for detention by the Iranian authorities, it says.

Challenges stay for the museum which operates beneath a good price range. Shifting political priorities imply that it usually capabilities extra as a cultural hub than a conventional museum.

But it continues to be a outstanding establishment – an unlikely guardian of contemporary artwork masterpieces within the coronary heart of Tehran.