During her reign as the first queen in Iranian history, Empress Farah Pahlavi dedicated her life to serving the Iranian people, creating, and curating museums and festivals across the country. With a keen eye—and working with Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and the Met—the empress was able to amass one of the world’s greatest collections of modern art for her country, including works by van Gogh, Picasso, Bacon, and de Kooning. She empowered a generation of young Iranian artists, visited the studios of artists like Henry Moore and Chagall, and commissioned works directly from a young Andy Warhol, who paid visit to the Royal Palace, in the name of establishing her country as a cultural vanguard. Then, in 1979, the unimaginable happened, and the Iran that emerged after the Revolution changed everything. Iran Modern: The Empress of Art uncovers the lost story of Farah Pahlavi’s amazing journey from Empress to exile and illuminates the near-forgotten collection of contemporary art she left behind.

Complimentary white gloves and signature canvas tote bag are included with each purchase from Assouline's Ultimate Collection 

Viola Raikhel-Bolot is co-founder of Vanishing Pictures Productions, and Managing Director and co-founder of 1858 Ltd Art Advisory, an international firm that works with some of the biggest names in modern art and collecting. Advising private banks, family offices, fashion and luxury brands and museums. She maintains advisory positions across the arts and is regularly called upon in the international press as a contributor to the Financial Times, CNBC, CNN and Bloomberg television news as an expert on the international art market.

Miranda Darling is a writer, and co-founder of Vanishing Pictures Productions. She has published two thrillers and a novel, and worked on several documentaries as a writer and consultant. Before reading English and Modern Languages at Oxford, Miranda travelled the world as a fashion model, and worked for PAPER magazine in New York. She has a Masters in Strategic Studies and Defence from the ANU (GSSD), and was an adjunct scholar at a public policy think tank (CIS), where she published widely on the topic of new security threats. She writes regularly for several magazines.

Assouline’s Ultimate Collection is an homage to the art of luxury bookmaking. Hand-bound using traditional techniques, with color plates hand-tipped on art-quality paper, each page of this limited-edition series bears the unique imprint of the artisan. Treating a range of topics from jewelry and fashion, fine art and the ‘Impossible Collections,’ the Ultimate Collection curates culture from around the world and across the ages. Nestled in linen clamshell presentation cases, these books attract collectors, lovers of the printed page, and those who devour the culture of our time. Signaling a new level of sophistication for true connoisseurs, these unique books are works of art in their own right.

The Highbrow Guide to Fall, Bloomberg Online, August2018

These 10 Coffee-Table Books Are More Than Just Decoration, Vanity Fair, September 2018

Les 10 beaux livres de la rentrée à s'offrir d'urgence, Vogue Paris, September 2018

Brilliant Game-Changing Books, Forbes, November 2018

Assouline's Latest Book Uncovers Iran's Modern Art, Design Curial, November 2018

Farah Pahlavi Interview, The Times, December 2018

The $3bn Art Collection Hidden in Vaults , BBC, December 2018

How Her Imperial Majesty Queen Farah Pahlavi Built an Art Empire, Vogue Arabia, December 2018

The art collection curated by Iran’s Empress Farah Pahlavi is displayed for the first time in a coffee table book called Iran Modern: The Empress of Art, Robb Report Online (SG), June 2019