The Museum is located on the western side of Park-e Laleh. It is a eye-catching modernist building built during the construction of modern landmarks in the 1970s.
When the museum opened in 1977, it homes a remarkable collection of Western and Iranian art. The museum is built thanks to the driving force of the Queen Farah Diba. Her cousin Kamran Diba was the architect of the museum.
The museum can boast with a unique collection of works by Matisse, Dalí, Van Gogh, Picasso, Munch, Miró, Bacon, Pollock, Monet, Moore and many others.
Nevertheless, it is not as easy to lay eyes on these masterpieces as you imagine. During the governance of Ahmadinejad, the collection has been locked away in the museum vaults. It was declared it deemed to be symbolic of a Western liberalism. The latter was out of favour among the ruling classes.
When you will find it open, take your chance and meet arty people in Tehran at TMOCA, they gather especially in the ground-floor cafe.