Monir
Farmanfarmaian
mirror worker
Monir Farmanfarmaian was born in Qazvin, Iran, in 1922. She grew up in a progressive family that encouraged her artistic talent and education. She studied fine arts at the University of Tehran and moved to New York in 1944, where she attended Parsons School of Design and Cornell University. She also worked as a fashion illustrator and met influential artists such as Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and Andy Warhol. She returned to Iran in 1957 and married Abolbashar Farmanfarmaian, a lawyer and intellectual. She became fascinated by the geometric patterns and mirror mosaics of Iranian architecture and began to create her own artworks using these elements. She also collected and studied folk art from different regions of Iran, which influenced her aesthetic vision and cultural identity.
Second Family
Square - 2011
Mirror and reverse
glass painting on plaster and wood.
55 × 55 in
Hexagon - 2011
Mirror and reverse
glass painting on plaster and wood.
39 × 34 in
Fourth Family
Heptagon - 2013
Mirror and reverse
glass painting on plaster on plastic.
48 × 48 × in
Square - 2013
Mirror and reverse
glass painting on plaster on plastic.
51 × 51 × in
Monir Farmanfarmaian passed away in 2019 at the age of 96, leaving behind a rich and diverse body of work that spans seven decades. She is widely regarded as one of the most influential and innovative Iranian artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. Her art transcends cultural and temporal boundaries and resonates with contemporary audiences around the world. She has inspired and influenced many younger artists, especially women, who admire her artistic vision, courage, and perseverance. She has also contributed to the preservation and promotion of Iranian cultural heritage and identity through her art and collections. She is celebrated as a national treasure and a global icon of art and culture.
Unspecified
Group 10 - 2011
Mirror and reverse
glass painting on plaster and wood.
47 × 47 in
Reflection Five - 2010
Mirror and reverse
glass painting on plaster and wood.
59.5 × 59.5 × 5 in
First Family
Square - 2010
Mirror and plaster on acrylic and wood.
33 × 43 in
Pentagon - 2010
Mirror and plaster on acrylic and wood.
43 × 45 in
Monir Farmanfarmaian developed a unique style of art that blended Persian pictorial language with Western geometric abstraction. She used mirrors, glass, metal, wood, and plaster to create intricate and dazzling compositions that reflected light and movement. She also made drawings, paintings, and collages that explored the mathematical and mystical aspects of geometry. Her artworks were inspired by Islamic art, Sufi philosophy, nature, and cosmology. She exhibited her works internationally and received critical acclaim and recognition. She was the first Iranian artist to participate in the Venice Biennale in 1958 and the first woman to receive the Praemium Imperiale, a prestigious Japanese art prize, in 2017. She also established the Monir Museum in Tehran in 2017, which is dedicated to her life and work.
Third Family
Decagon - 2011
Reverse painted glass
mirrored glass, and plastic.
45 × 47 × 11 in
Triangle - 2011
Reverse painted glass
mirrored glass, and plastic.
43 × 47 × 6 in.
Fifth Family
Heptagon - 2014
Mirror and reverse
glass painting on plaster on wood.
53 × 54 in
Pentagon - 2014
Mirror and reverse
glass painting on plaster on wood.
50 × 52 in
