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A cursory glance at the history of art reveals that social, political and economic conditions have always played a major role in the emergence of new artistic currents and styles. In Iran, the social and political developments of the 1940s radically altered the evolution of this country’s plastic arts and entirely altering its natural path.
The modern art movement in Iran had its genesis in the late 1940s and early 1950s. This was the period after the death of famous Persian painter, Kamal-ol-molk (1852–1940) and thus symbolically the end of a rigid adherence to academic painting.
The 1949 opening of the Apadana gallery in Tehran by Mahmoud Javadipour and other colleagues, and the emergence of artists like Marcos Grigorian in the 1950s, signaled a commitment to the creation of a form of modern art grounded in Iran.
In 1977, the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art opened, boasting an important collection of both Western and Iranian artists.
Notable figures from the Iranian cultural continent
Iranian art is shared among people of Iranian cultural continent and is not limited to modern Iran. Modern art is emerging in Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Iraqi Kurdistan. In Afghanistan, Rahraw Omarzad, founded Center for Contemporary Art Afghanistan (CCAA) in 2004. Also, a museum of modern art is under construction in Iraqi Kurdistan. Here is a list of notable figures of Iranian modern art throughout the Iranian cultural continent: