by 
This year’s Yalda is the twenty-fifth anniversary of the passing of the father of modern Iranian painting, Master Jalil Ziapour; he who was born on 25 April 1920 and, on 21 December 1999, in the final breaths of autumn and on the threshold of the longest night of the year, departed from among us.
But this passing was the beginning of his immortality in the soul of the art of this land. At a time when the connection between tradition and innovation seemed difficult, with a brush filled with insight and boldness, he opened a new path in the art of Iran. His brushstrokes blended the voice of the ancient veins of this land’s culture with the rhythm of a modern vision, and sowed the seeds of a new vision in the soil of raw canvases. Today, the trace of his thoughts is felt in the work of contemporary artists, and the identity he bestowed upon modern Iranian painting is a light that is not extinguished even in the darkest of nights.
Every year, as Yalda approaches, his absence appears more vividly, but this very void is a sign of his permanence in the memory of our national art. He departed, but the colors and lines he left behind as a legacy flow like veins of life through the warp and weft of the art of Iran. May his memory be cherished, his name eternal, and his path ever inspiring.
Mahsha Ziapour
December 2024
