Iran's Western Art

A collection of modern art that has spent much of the past 25 years in a vault has gone on public display in Iran for the first time. The exhibition at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Arts includes works by Van Gogh, Picasso, Gauguin, Warhol, Bacon and Pollack. Most of the 188 works were purchased to further Iran's cultural activities by the wife of the late Shah. But the Shah's fall saw the collection locked away by an Islamic government opposed to Western influence. Three works in the collection - among them Gabriel, a highly-regarded Auguste Renoir portrait of a semi-nude girl - were not included to avoid offending conservatives. For the full story - click the title Irish Art