On the western side of Park-e Laleh, the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art is in a striking concrete modernist building constructed during the shah’s rush to build modern landmarks in the 1970s. Progressive Queen Farah Diba was the driving force behind the museum (her cousin Kamran Diba was the architect) and by the time it opened in 1977 its nine major galleries in their distinctive, Guggenheim-esque spiral layout were home to a remarkable collection of Western and Iranian art. The museum boasts works by Picasso, Matisse, Van Gogh, Miró, Dalí, Bacon, Pollock, Monet, Munch, Moore and Warhol, among many others. On the open market, the collection is estimated to be worth between US$2 billion and US$5 billion.
Laying eyes on it, however, is not easy. During the Ahmadinejad years the collection has been locked away in the museum vaults, deemed to be symbolic of a Western liberalism that is out of favour among the ruling classes. Indeed, when we visited on this trip the whole museum was closed and we were told it only opens for special exhibitions of Iranian artists. You might have more luck under another president.
When it’s open TMOCA is a good place to meet arty Tehranis, especially in the ground-floor cafe.
