Empress Farah and Iran’s Museum of Contemporary Arts

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Did you know that Tehran boasts an impressive collection of Western modern art? Back in the 1970s, Farah Pahlavi decided Iranians needed to know more about contemporary art. So she hired a curator to bring in work by Picasso, Kandinsky, and Jackson Pollock. Unfortunately, the collection hasn’t been seen by many people, and has mainly been stored underground. “The collection is in good condition, and that’s important,” says the American curator of the museum. “Things change, and it seems like things are changing at the moment. I would go back to Iran if the circumstances were right.”