TEHRAN – An art and cultural center named Khatte Sevvom was inaugurated in Tehran on Friday with the unveiling of 84-year-old Iranian surrealist artist Iran Darrudi’s latest painting.

She talked to the visitors by telephone at the center located near Tehran’s City Theater Complex. 

The center includes a theatrical performance plateau, a theater rehearsal plateau, a workshop, a bookshop and a café, and will begin its activities by holding workshops and meetings on art and literature on young adults.

Born in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad, Darrudi has studied at Ecole Superier des Beaux-Arts and the École du Louvre in Paris and the Royal Academy of Brussels. She also received education on television direction and production at the RCA Institute in New York City.

A few years ago, she returned to her homeland, and the Tehran Municipality promised her to establish a museum in the Yusefabad district to preserve the works she had brought with herself from Paris.  

In addition, Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization (CHTHO) honored her with the first Eternal Tile, which was embedded on the wall of her house in Tehran in May 2017.

The tile bearing the name and titles of a celebrity is installed on the façade of his/her house. It also carries the year the artist began to live in the house.

Darrudi’s first solo exhibition was held in Miami in 1958 at the invitation of the Florida State Art Center. 

An exhibition featuring 207 of Darrudi’s masterpieces opened at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art in May 2008.

A selection of her works was shown at Tehran’s Shirin Gallery in 2009.

Photo: A painting by Iranian surrealist painter Iran Darrudi.

RM/MMS/YAW