Bahman Mohassess dubbed by some as the “Persian Picasso”, was an Iranian painter, sculptor, translator, and theatre director. His oeuvre comprises paintings, sculptures and collages. He was also a celebrated translator of literary works. His works are highly collected and extremely rare. He is said to have destroyed many of his own works and those that are available at auction, are quickly sought after and bought. His art work range from $50,000 USD up to $1M USD for the extremely rare pieces that are thought to have been destroyed, aside for a couple that are owned by private collectors, like his painting “Requiem Omnibus” etc. However, many of his pieces, have not been destroyed and have been kept privately by collectors. Some of his most sought after and popular paintings (among others) are “Fifi Howls from happiness” and “Requiem Omnibus” (death of Martin Luther King ) , which are supposedly owned by a private collectors.
He returned to Iran in 1964 and participated in Venice, São Paulo and Tehran Biennale.
Mohasses directed plays, including Pirandello’s Henry IV at Goethe Institute and Ghandriz Gallery [Wikidata] in Tehran. He also translated books of a number of authors, including Eugène Ionesco, Malaparte and Pirandello.
He stayed in Iran until 1968, before returning to Rome, where he received commissions for statutes to be placed in Tehran. Some of his public works in Iran were destroyed or damaged after the Islamic Revolution in 1979, with the artist subsequently destroying all his remaining works in Iran. He occasionally travelled to Iran and died in self-imposed seclusion in Rome in 2010.
