The works came from the museum\u2019s large collection of masterpieces of American and European modern art that was acquired by the wife of the former shah in the 1970s. Most of it has been kept out of view since the Western-backed monarch was ousted by the 1979 Islamic Revolution.<\/p>\n
The US and Israel launched their campaign against Iran on February 28, to degrade the Iranian regime\u2019s military capabilities, distance threats posed by Iran \u2014 including its nuclear and ballistic missile programs \u2014 and \u201ccreate the conditions\u201d for the Iranian people to topple the Islamic regime, the military and other Israeli leaders have said. A ceasefire was announced by US President Donald Trump some six weeks later.<\/p>\n
After living under bombardment for weeks, the young men and women strolling the gallery felt a resonance from the works.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n Some contemplated Rosenquist\u2019s \u201cF-111,\u201d a collage dating to the era of the US bombardment of Vietnam that critiques America\u2019s military-industrial complex with images of a warplane\u2019s fuselage, a nuclear mushroom cloud and a child\u2019s face.<\/p>\n \t Nearby was \u201cBrattata,\u201d one of Lichtenstein\u2019s characteristic paintings based on a comic book panel, this one of a fighter plane pilot shooting down an enemy craft.<\/p>\n \u201cAmerican artists have always had a really interesting way of ridiculing war, and that\u2019s always fascinated me in their work,\u201d said Ghazaleh Jahanbin, a Tehran artist visiting the show. \u201cMaybe part of it, I don\u2019t know, comes from their geographical distance from war itself.\u201d<\/p>\n Dabirinezhad said the museum wanted the exhibit, titled \u201cArt and War,\u201d to respond to the \u201cevents unfolding around it.\u201d So it selected pieces \u201cthat were either shaped by the experience of war or created as reactions to wars,\u201d he told Iran\u2019s semiofficial ISNA news agency.<\/p>\n The museum is government-run and comes under the authority of the regime\u2019s Culture Ministry.<\/p>\n Yet pictures of the exhibit show several women visiting the museum without headscarves, which is illegal in Iran.<\/p>\n A collection acquired in the \u201970s<\/p>\n The museum\u2019s collection has a storied history. The government of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi built the museum and bought up treasures of Cubist, Surrealist, Impressionist, Abstract and Pop art in the 1970s, when booming oil prices were filling Iran\u2019s coffers and the country was the closest US ally in the region.<\/p>\n The shah\u2019s wife, former Empress Farah Pahlavi, largely selected the works from artists ranging from Pablo Picasso to Vincent Van Gogh, Francis Bacon and David Hockney. Among them were several Jewish artists, including Lichtenstein, Mark Rothko, Gis\u00e8le Freund and Camille Pissarro.<\/p>\n \t Bethany Montagano, curator of the 2016 exhibition \u201cPop for the People: Roy Lichtenstein\u201d at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, told the Jewish newspaper Forward at the time that while Lichtenstein very rarely mentioned his origins, they still had a significant impact on his life and art.<\/p>\n \u201cHe grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan,\u201d she said. \u201cBecause he was Jewish, he could only live in certain apartment buildings. He couldn\u2019t find housing at Ohio State, so he joined a Jewish fraternity, and spent a lot of time socializing with Jewish boys and girls. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s too much of a stretch to say it did impact his worldview \u2014 wanting to come from margins, from outside, and level the playing field.\u201d<\/p>\n In 1989, Lichtenstein created a large mural for the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.<\/p>\n \t Just two years after the Tehran museum opened in 1977, the shah was toppled and theocratic rule by Shiite clerics was installed. The collection was packed away in the museum\u2019s vault, untouched for decades to avoid offending Islamic values or creating the appearance of catering to Western sensibilities.<\/p>\n Since the beginning of the 2000s, the museum has occasionally brought out some pieces for temporary exhibits. The collection is believed to be worth several billion dollars. Even with Iran cash-strapped under Western sanctions, museum officials have ensured that the collection is not sold off. In 1994, Iran traded a Willem de Kooning painting from the collection for a prized manuscript of the Persian epic Shahnameh, or Book of Kings, from an American foundation.<\/p>\n Reopening an escape from anxiety of war<\/p>\n Museums and many other cultural activities have been shut down in Iran during the current war.<\/p>\n The shaky ceasefire in place since early April has allowed a reopening, though Dabirinezhad said only a few pieces were put on display in case war resumed and the works had to be rushed back to safe storage.<\/p>\n \t For Iranian art lovers, the reopening brought an escape from the anxiety of war and a chance to reconnect with culture.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was such a great thing to happen. A couple of weeks ago I was talking with my friends, and everybody was talking about how much they missed visiting museums,\u201d said Jahanbin.<\/p>\n Fears remained high that the war could break out again. Iran and the US remain locked in a military standoff, with Iran sealing the Strait of Hormuz and the US blockading Iranian ports as they wrangle over negotiations for a resolution.<\/p>\n \u201cThis state of being undecided leaves you dazed and confused, everything is up in the air,\u201d said Mohammad Sadegh Abbasi, one of the visitors perusing the exhibit. \u201cI hope everything ends well soon and we get a secure and calm life.\u201d<\/p>\n \t \u201cSome of the works remind me of the scenes I saw [during the war],\u201d he added.<\/p>\n The six works had been set to be on display until May 10, but the director said that each week, new ones related to the theme would be brought out of the collection for show.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/AP26127579501549-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tA woman looks at \u2018F-111,\u2019 an artwork of American artist James Rosenquist, as she visits an exhibition called \u2018Art & war\u2019 displaying some artworks of American pop artists at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art in Iran, on May 7, 2026. (AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/000_32J27KU-e1662794988761-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tIn this file photo taken on March 2, 1961, Britain\u2019s Queen Elizabeth II (2nd L) and Prince Philip (R) pose with Iran\u2019s Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (2nd R) and his wife Farah Pahlavi during their state visit to Tehran. (Central Press\/AFP)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Roy_Lichtenstein_painter_1969_cropped-300x480.jpg\")
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\n\t\tAmerican Jewish artist Roy Lichtenstein in 1969. (Gotfryd Bernard\/Wikipedia)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/AFP__20250810__698D3HB__v1__HighRes__IranCultureArtExhibit-1-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tPeople visit the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art on August 10, 2025. (ATTA KENARE \/ AFP)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/AP26127579730222-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tIranian women look at American artist Roy Lichtenstein\u2019s \u2018Brattata\u2019 as they visit an exhibition called: \u2018Art & war\u2019 displaying some artworks of American pop artists at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art in Iran, on May 7, 2026. (AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi)<\/p>\n
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