Mansour Bakhtiar

The fundamental political, social and cultural struggles in Mansour’s life have only strengthened his love for beauty and desire for total immersion in the world of art and colour. Mansour started to explore ‘Western’ art, equipped with a suitcase filled with knowledge and cultural hallmarks of what he calls the ‘temptation of Oriental art’. This impressive monograph contains the majority of Mansour’s work over the past fifty years. His paintings, betraying a surrealist view of the outskirts of social life and an individual as well as a collective psychoanalysis, convey a sometimes brutal but visually beautiful reality. ‘Looking at Mansour’s paintings means looking into Mansour’s soul.’ - Kathleen Nieuwenhuisen, art historian