TEHRAN - The 25th Tehran Auction, titled “Modern, Classic, and Traditional Iranian Art,” was held on the evening of Friday, July 17, at the Parsian Azadi Hotel in Tehran, recording a total sale of more than 464 billion Tomans (over $2.4 million). 

In this edition, Sohrab Sepehri emerged as the artist with the most expensive work, setting a new record for the auction, IRNA reported.

In the 25th edition, 100 works by 80 artists were presented for sale. The total value of the works in this auction was estimated at a base price range between 354 and 423 billion Tomans ($1.86 million to $2.23 million). In total, 96 out of the 100 works were sold for 464 billion and 266 million Tomans ($2.44 million) amidst fierce competition among art collectors.

The most expensive piece in this edition was Sohrab Sepehri’s work titled “High Horizon,” which had a base price of 27.5 billion Tomans ($145,000) and sold for 38.5 billion Tomans ($203,000), breaking the all-time sales record for the 25 editions of the Tehran Auction.

Sohrab Sepehri was an Iranian artist known for his paintings that often depicted nature. He was associated with the modernist movement. Born in 1928 in Kashan, Isfahan province, he pursued his education at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Tehran.

In the 1960s, Sepehri began painting stark close-ups of tree trunks—which perfectly combined Western modernism and Japanese minimalism into a Persian aesthetic. The tree paintings have become iconic canvases in the Iranian modernist canon.  

To Sepehri, trees symbolized munificence and permanence in a world tainted by malevolence. Tree trunks served as icons of abundant strength. His fascination with depicting sections of the trunk, rather than the entirety of the tree, was intentional and draws on the Taoist principle of absolute truth. 

In his works, it is the imagery that is not depicted which alludes to the mystery of a unified cosmos while reflecting the limits of our perception. Sepehri passed away in 1980 in Tehran.

Following Sepehri, a piece by calligrapher-painter Mohammad Ehsaei titled “Affection,” with a base price of 27.5 billion Tomans ($145,000), was hammered at 33.5 billion Tomans ($176,000), marking the second-highest record in the auction’s history.

Of the total works, only six female artists — Parvaneh Etemadi, Bahjat Sadr, Farideh Lashai, Lili Matin-Daftari, Elaheh Khatami, and Leila Barzegar Yarmohammadi — were represented with a total of 8 works, constituting a negligible share of female representation in the Tehran Auction. 

The most expensive female artist of the 25th auction was Lili Matin-Daftari, whose untitled work reached a sale price of 8.2 billion Tomans ($43,0000, up from a base price of 6.8 billion Tomans ($36,000).

The first of its kind in Iran, the Tehran Auction was launched in 2012 as an independent and private initiative to introduce the best in Iranian art, ranging from established and emerging Iranian artists to art collectors and the global audience.

It aims to address the increasing interest in modern and contemporary Iranian art and facilitate the acquisition of quality works in reliable ways.

-------- Photo: Sohrab Sepehri’s “High Horizon” was sold for 38.5 billion Tomans ($203,000), breaking the all-time sales record for the 25 editions of the Tehran Auction.

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