A landmark exhibition celebrates the often misunderstood art of Iran’s Qajar dynasty. It can tell us a lot about the country’s fascinating culture, writes Joobin Bekhrad.

The Perso-Islamic Qajar monarchy ruled Iran from 1785 to 1925, spanning seven kings, who shared a taste for art as both patrons and amateur artists and calligraphers themselves.

Discover the rich history of Iran, from ancient empires to modern turmoil, through the eyes of a cultural commentator.

One such king was the Persian Shah Agha Mohammad Khan, also sometimes referred to as Agha Mohammad Shah. The 18th-century ruler ushered in the Qajar dynasty of Iran that ruled until 1925.

Kings and noblemen of Iran’s Qajar dynasty (1779–1925) commissioned self-portraits to convey their power and splendor. Such imagery proliferated as monumental oil paintings, photographs or as ...

The Qajar were a tribe that began to spread in the 10th and 11th century, and eventually led to Iran’s Qajar dynasty in the 18th through 20th centuries. How Abarkuh’s Underground City Was Once ...

The Qajar dynasty roughly corresponds to what historian Eric Hobsbawm called “the long 19th century,” which began with the French Revolution in 1789 and ended with World War I. Persia’s ...

TIME looks at Iran's modern history, from the 1906 Constitutional Revolution to the women-led protests today. ... Muzaffaru’d-Di’n Shah Qajar, who reigned Iran from 1896 until 1907, ...

Shirin Aliabadi was an Iran-based photographer that transformed our ideas about Iranian youth in a nation where about half of its population is under 35. “Miss Hybrid” 2008 (shown above) is ...