Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art

The Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art houses, in its vaults and periodically in its galleries, one of the most remarkable collections of Western 20th-century art in the world. The collection was assembled in the 1970s by Empress Farah, who engaged major curators and dealers to acquire canonical works of Western modern and contemporary art for Iran. The result includes works by Picasso, Warhol, Bacon, Pollock, Lichtenstein, and dozens of other major figures.

The building itself — a spiral concrete structure with skylights designed by Kamran Diba in 1977 — is a significant work of architecture in its own right. What you actually see when you visit depends entirely on the current exhibition; the permanent collection is shown in rotation and sometimes not at all. The Iranian contemporary art collection is always on display and includes some genuinely powerful work. The museum is also an important venue for Iranian artists and there is usually a serious temporary exhibition.

things to do museum
A story
In 1979, the revolutionary government locked the storage vaults of the Museum of Contemporary Art and the collection disappeared — in the sense that it was not publicly exhibited for nearly two decades. When a small portion was finally shown in the 1990s, international art historians realised that the basement held one of the most important collections of Western modern art outside Europe and North America: Picasso, Léger, Pollock, de Kooning, Warhol, Bacon, and over 3,000 other works acquired by Empress Farah in the 1970s. Most remain in storage; what is shown depends on the political climate.

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