Untitled Acrylic on Wood Painting

This acrylic on wood painting captures folk memory and myth through vibrant forms rooted in Persian village life

Artwork Description

 about this painting

Acrylic on wood paintings by Naneh Hassan, a self-taught outsider artist, offer a deeply personal and culturally rich visual language. Created later in her life, each piece reflects the lived experience of a woman who spent decades weaving rugs and recounting traditional tales in rural Iran. Her transition from textile to paint began in her seventies, turning memories, folklore and the spirit of village life into vibrant imagery on wood panels.

The use of acrylic paint on raw or treated wooden surfaces lends her work a grounded, tactile presence. Her technique often involves layering vivid pigments directly onto wood, sometimes mounted on protective boards for added structure. While her later works use modern materials, their aesthetic and symbolism are closely tied to the natural world, mirroring the dyes and motifs she once used in weaving. Shapes and symbols echo rug patterns, tribal forms, and mythical figures, blending abstraction with storytelling.

These paintings act as visual heirlooms. They preserve the essence of oral traditions, embodying her own journey from domestic artistry to visual storytelling. With every brushstroke, she bridges the ancient and the contemporary, the personal and the universal, turning humble wood into a canvas for memory and myth.

View her Dubai collection of available artworks here

About the artist

Naneh Hassan (1937–2022), born Monavar Ramezani, was a self-taught Iranian artist from Sohravard, Zanjan Province. She learned tribal weaving and storytelling from the women in her family. Married at nine, she raised fifteen children and worked as a rug weaver for decades.

At seventy, she began painting with acrylic on wood and fiber boards, drawing from her memory and heritage. Her works feature mythic figures, animals, and village life in bold, symbolic compositions. She used natural pigments like walnut shell and pumpkin, rooted in her early weaving practice.

Her paintings preserve fading cultural memory through personal, emotional narratives. Each work captures love, loss, and resilience in visual form. She continued painting late into life, producing deeply expressive and unique artworks.

Though working outside mainstream art education her entire life, Naneh has exhibited internationally. Notable shows include a solo exhibition at Shirin Gallery in Tehran in 2015, and participation in Abu Dhabi Art Fair in 2021. Her paintings are featured in Middle Eastern galleries such as Art Monkey (Dubai) and Shirin Gallery, and platformed by outlets like Artsy and The Gallery of Everything.

Following her passing, her work has drawn increased attention from collectors and curators alike. Her paintings are now seen as rare expressions of Iranian outsider art. Her legacy lives on through her powerful visual storytelling and her singular artistic voice.

copyright

This acrylic on wood painting is one of a kind original therefore, all copyrights and reproduction rights are reserved by the artist.