Farideh Lashai

Farideh Lashai was born in 1944 in Rasht, a city in northern Iran. She was a versatile and influential Iranian artist who worked in various media, including painting, sculpture, installation and animation. She was also a writer and translator who had a keen interest in German literature and culture.
She grew up in a cultured and progressive family that encouraged her artistic talents. She attended high school in Tehran, where she was exposed to the modern art movements of the West. She also developed a passion for poetry and literature, especially the works of Bertolt Brecht, whom she later translated into Persian.
In 1961, she moved to Germany to study German language and literature at the University of Frankfurt. She also enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, where she learned the techniques of decorative arts and crystal design. She worked as a designer for the renowned glass companies Riedel and Rosenthal, and exhibited her paintings in Italy and Germany.
In 1974, she returned to Iran and settled in Tehran. She became one of the leading figures of the Iranian contemporary art scene, participating in numerous solo and group exhibitions, both nationally and internationally. She also taught painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts of Tehran University and the School of Decorative Arts.
Lashai's artistic style evolved over the years, from figurative and expressionist paintings in the 1960s and 1970s, to abstract and minimalist compositions in the 1980s and 1990s, to multimedia and interactive installations in the 2000s and 2010s. She was inspired by the beauty and mystery of nature, as well as the social and political issues of her time. She often incorporated elements of poetry, music, theater and cinema into her works, creating a dialogue between different forms of art and culture.
Lashai died in 2013 in Tehran, after a long battle with cancer. She left behind a rich and diverse legacy of artistic creations that reflect her vision, imagination and sensitivity. She is widely regarded as one of the most influential and original Iranian artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. Her works are collected and exhibited by major museums and institutions around the world, such as the British Museum, the Centre Pompidou, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Sharjah Art Foundation and the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art.