The Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (TMoCA) has reopened with a weekly rotating post-ceasefire program called 'Art and War,' following weeks of bombardment that forced its closure and prompted emergency efforts to protect its collection. The program began with works by American Pop artists James Rosenquist, Roy Lichtenstein, and Robert Indiana, and this week features three works from Pablo Picasso's Weeping Woman series, focusing on Spain. Museum director Reza Dabirinezhad described the challenges of safeguarding the collection during US-Israeli strikes, including removing 80% of the oil from Noriyuki Haraguchi's installation 'Matter and Mind' (1977) to prevent fire risk, and protecting outdoor sculptures by Henry Moore, René Magritte, and Max Bill.
The reopening matters because TMoCA houses what is widely considered the largest collection of Western modern art outside Europe and the United States, assembled primarily in the 1970s by Iran's former Shah's wife, Farah Pahlavi. The museum's ability to protect this estimated $3 billion collection during active conflict and quickly mount a thematic exhibition about war demonstrates both the resilience of cultural institutions in crisis zones and the enduring power of art to address contemporary trauma. The 'Art and War' program also highlights how museums in politically volatile regions can use their collections to engage with urgent global issues, offering a unique perspective on conflict through the lens of Western modern masters.