Warhol in Tehran: Iranians flock to American pop art exhibit

By NASSER KARIMI
Associated Press

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranians are flocking to Tehran’s contemporary art museum to marvel at American pop artist Andy Warhol’s iconic work. That’s even as Iranian hard-liners, now back at the helm of the country, regularly rail against the poisoning of Islamic society by Western culture. At the exhibit this week, visitors gushed over the range of silk-screen portraits and vintage prints. The exhibit first opened in June and closes on Sunday, running despite the coronavirus continuing to ravage Iran. After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran’s theocracy initially banned modern art. But thousands of Western works from the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art’s vast permanent collection have gone on display over the years as cultural restrictions eased.