ALI GOLESTANEH

Ali Golestaneh’s painting career began at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Tehran in 1960. His progressive approach to art was met with opposition from his professors, and he was eventually discharged from the faculty. In 1969, he moved to England, where he worked as a designer and illustrator.

During his stay in Spain between 1979 and 1987, coloured pencil became Golestaneh’s primary medium. He produced a significant body of work depicting landscapes, seascapes, places, daily life, and people in cafés and on the beaches of Madrid and Ibiza. Coloured pencil remained his favourite medium for many years, including after his return to Iran.

Fascinated by the beauty of the human body and face, particularly those of women, Golestaneh has consistently painted live models and people from his immediate surroundings—whether his housekeeper, people he encountered on the street,…