TEHRAN – Hossein Zendehrudi’s painting “Voute Azurée” was the most expensive work sold at the 12th Tehran Auction on Friday as it fetched 32 billion rials (over $750,000).

A selection of 118 lots of modern and contemporary Iranian art was offered during the auction held at Tehran’s Parsian Azadi Hotel.

The second most expensive work sold at the sale was an untitled painting from Manuchehr Yektai’s still life series, which fetched 19 billion rials (over $450,000).

“Am I Dreaming or Am I Awake”, a painting on canvas from Farhad Moshiri’s jar series was the third most expensive work sold at the auction with 16 billion rials (over $380,000).

There was a surprise in store for the art dealers at the auction as an untitled painting by young artist Hassan Ruholamin was sold at 2.8 billion rials (about $67,000), seven times more than its estimated price.

A total of 115 items were sold during the 12th edition of the auction, which took in over 317 billion rials (over $7.5 million).  

Works by artists, including Parvaneh Etemadi, Parviz Kalantari, Abbas Kiarostami, Aidin Aghdashlu and Jazeh Tabatabai, were auctioned at the sale.

Art expert Alireza Sami-Azar, a former director of the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, is the director of the auction, which organizes two sales every year. The first sale is dedicated to classic artworks and the second sale focuses on modern and contemporary artworks.   

Photo: Auctioneer Reza Kianian takes a bid for the sale of “Voute Azurée” by Hossein Zendehrudi during the 12th Tehran Auction at the Parsian Azadi Hotel in Tehran on January 17, 2020. The artwork was the top seller, fetching over $750,000. (Honaronline/Mohammad Namazi)

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