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Thousands throng to Iran museum with Western art masterpieces
Over 20,000 people have flocked to an Iranian museum showcasing renowned Western artists' works, some for the first time -- part of a treasure trove amassed before the Islamic Revolution.
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Visitors look at Sinjerli Variations I-V, by American painter Frank Stella in 1977, during the 'Minimalism and Conceptual Art' exhibition, which showcases works from the 19th and 20th-centuries by American and European artists, at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art in the Iranian capital on August 22, 2022. (AFP/Atta Kenare)
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ore than 20,000 people have flocked to an Iranian museum showcasing renowned Western artists' works, some for the first time -- part of a treasure trove amassed before the Islamic Revolution.
The museum's collection is reputed to be the greatest line-up of modern masterpieces outside Europe and the United States, and includes multi-million-dollar pieces, much of which has been kept under wraps since the 1979 revolution.
The Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art "surprises me every time," said visitor Shahin Rajabi, 35. "The current show is no exception."
The current "Minimalism and Conceptual Art" exhibition features 132 works by 34 world-famous contemporary artists, museum director Ebadreza Eslami said, including Marcel Duchamp, Sol LeWitt, Donald Judd and the duo Christo and Jeanne-Claude.
"The reception has been marvellous," Eslami said, particularly after long closures in recent years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said one of the main factors for the footfall of this exhibit was that "38 masterpieces" were being displayed "for the first time".
AFP saw visitors at the museum this week, some stopping to study details while others were busy taking photos as they made their way intently through the museum.
