Behjat Sadr was one of Iran’s most influential painters and a radical figure in Iranian modernism—yet she had to fight hard for her place in history. Among her long list of breakthrough achievements, Sadr was the first female professor at the University of Tehran, where she would teach for almost two decades—alongside her personal practice in which she applied paint with a palette knife on canvas. In 1956 her work was presented at The Venice Biennale, where she was one of few female artists included. At the end of 1970s she fled Tehran during the Revolution that forced many artists into exile and settled in France. Now the artist and her legacy are honoured at nonprofit art space, The Mosaic Rooms (open until 8 December).
