Bahman Mohassess

Bahman Mohassess (1931–2010) was an Iranian painter, sculptor, printmaker, and translator, widely regarded as one of the most singular and uncompromising figures in twentieth-century Iranian modernism. Born in Rasht, he began his early artistic formation at the age of fourteen under Mohammed Habib Mohammadi, a painter trained at the Moscow Art Academy.

In 1950, Mohassess enrolled at the Tehran Fine Arts Academy, though he did not complete his studies there. In 1954, he relocated to Rome to pursue formal artistic training, attending the Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma and briefly studying in the studio of Ferruccio Ferrazzi. During this period, he participated in significant collective exhibitions across Europe and beyond, including the Venice Biennale and group presentations in São Paulo and Paris, alongside a number of solo exhibitions. His early work was shaped by the legacies of Abstract Expressionism, though his practice evolved markedly toward expressive figuration.

In 1964, Mohassess returned to Iran with the ambition of catalysing a critically engaged artistic

environment aligned with contemporary European developments. The four years he spent in

Tehran between 1964 and 1968 are widely considered the most fertile and concentrated period

of his career. He returned permanently to Rome in 1969, visiting Iran only occasionally thereafter.

Following the Islamic Revolution of 1979, a substantial portion of his work was destroyed.

Mohassess died in Rome on 28 July 2010. His work has entered the collections of major international institutions and figures, among them Nelson Rockefeller, the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, the Niavaran Palace Museum, Tate Modern, and the Barjeel Art Foundation.