Iran has just opened, or re-opened, a spectacular attraction. After 40 years in basement storage at Tehran’s Museum of Contemporary Art, a wide collection of Western modern art is on display.
The paintings, including works by Jackson Pollock, Francis Bacon, Toulouse-Lautrec, Mark Rothko and more, have spent the years since the 1979 Iranian revolution hidden from view because the fundamentalist rulers considered them symbols of decadence—and perhaps a bit also because they were closely associated with the newly-overthrown regime of the Shah. The collection was assembled under direction of the shah’s wife, and the museum itself was built to house it.
Iran’s tourism business is growing, now that a nuclear treaty has begun lifting sanctions, and although religious leaders still control most aspects of society, the atmosphere has changed enough for the pictures to emerge (although the few nudes in the collection will not be displayed in public). Paintings by Iranian painters of the same eras are also included.
The Telegraph (UK) has a longer review, with numbers of paintings, HERE
