Behjat Sadr

Behjat Sadr (; 29 May 1924 – 10 August 2009) was an Iranian modernist painter whose works have been exhibited in New York, Paris, and Rome. She was known for applying paint with a palette knife to canvas and metallic surfaces, creating compositions characterised by visual rhythm, movement, and geometric forms.

Biography Behjat Sadr was born in Arak, Iran on 29 May 1924.

Awarded the Royal Grand Prize at theTehran Biennale 1962, In several of her writings, she had expressed a wish to die at sea.

Sadr has been described as the first Iranian woman painter of her generation to achieve recognition equal to that of her male contemporaries.

In 2006, Sadr was the subject of a documentary film called Behjat Sadr: Time Suspended, directed by Mitra Farahani. This film includes footage of the artist at work, as well as extensive interviews.

The Behjat Sadr Endowment Fund, Fonds de Dotation Behjat Sadr, was established in 2020 to protect and enhance the artist's work.

Solo exhibitions

1957: Il Pincio Gallery, Rome, Italy 1958: La Bussola, Rome, Italy 1963: Borghese Gallery, Tehran, Iran 1967: Seyhoun Gallery, Tehran, Iran 1975: Cyrus Gallery, Paris, France 1977: Iranian-American Cultural Center, Tehran, Iran 1983: Cité internationale des arts, Paris, France 1984: Darial Gallery, Paris, France 1985: Farhang-Sara Cultural Center, Tehran, Iran 1994: Nia cultural Center, Tehran, Iran 2004: Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Tehran, Iran 2008: Golestan Gallery, Tehran, Iran 2008: Frederic Lacroix Gallery, Paris, France 2010: Frederic Lacroix Gallery, Paris France 2018: The Mosaic Rooms, London, UK 2019: Balice Hertling Gallery, Paris, France 2022: Balice Hertling Gallery, Paris, France 2023: "Behjat SADR", IAIA IAIA, New York, USA

Group exhibitions 1956: Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy 1957: Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy 1957: Galleria Il Pincio, Rome, Italy 1962: Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy 1962: The 3rd Tehran Painting Biennale, Tehran, Iran 1962: São Paulo Art Biennale, São Paulo, Brazil 1987: Iranian Contemporary Art: Four Women, Foxley Leach Gallery, Washington DC 1992: Columbia University, New York, USA 1992: Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Tehran, Iran 2002: "Between Word and Image, Modern Iranian Visual Culture", Gray Art Gallery, New York, USA 2013: "Modernités Plurielles de 1905 à 1970", Centre Pompidou, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris, France 2013: "Iran Modern", Asia Society, New York, USA 2014: "Unedited History. Iran 1960-2014", Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris, Paris, France 2015: "Unedited History. Iran 1960-2014", MAXXI, Rome, Italy 2021: "Epic Iran", Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK 2023: Action, Gesture, Paint: Women Artists and Global Abstraction 1940-1970, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK and Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles, Arles, France