Defined by many as the “Iranian Picasso”, to whom he is linked by the dark tones and monumental shapes of stylised animals that inhabit his paintings and sculptures, as well as by the intimate political connotations of his art, Bahman Mohasses profoundly influenced Iranian cultural life in a love-hate relationship that led him to self-exile in Rome from the 1970s. He destroyed much of his work himself, the striking last act of protest against a regime that indelibly marked his existence.
