Iran Darroudi is a revered Iranian painter, director, writer, art critic, and university professor. She was born in 1936 in Khorasan to a prominent dynasty. Her paternal family were well-known merchants in the north-eastern province, while her maternal family were Caucasian merchants, who travelled to Iran following the Soviet Revolution and took residence in Mashhad.
Darroudi discovered her passion for painting at a young age. After completing her secondary school education, she travelled to France and continued her studies at the University of Fine Arts (École des Beaux-Art). She also headed to the Belgian capital and attained a course in "stained glass" at The Imperial and Royal Academy of Brussels. Darroudi completed her education with a degree in the History of Art at Ecole du Louvre in Paris.
In 1968 Darroudi was commissioned by the ITT corporation to create an artwork, entitled Iranian Petroleum, on the occasion of the launch of a pipeline from Abadan to Mahshahr. The painting generated a great deal of media interest and was published in the likes of Time magazine, Newsweek and Life Magazine -- to name but a few. The artwork was later dubbed "Our Veins, the Earth's Veins," by Ahmad Shamlou, a distinguished Iranian poet.
Following her success in arts, Iran Darroudi took on a new adventure. In 1966 she began to learn directing at the RCL institute in New York City. That's where she met her husband, Parviz Moghadasi, who was also studying television directing at the time. The two began to collaborate with each-other on various projects at a newly established television production company. Over the period of six years, they produced over 80 documentaries about both Iranian and international artists.
Darroudi's lifetime achievements include her 60 individual exhibitions and 200 group exhibitions, art critiques published in various newspapers, colorful speeches in cultural and artistic establishments around the world, some 80 collaborative documentaries, and last but not least an autobiography, "Distance Between Two Dots". These are the results of more than 50 years of her work in Contemporary Art of Iran. The same activities that she carried out while rubbing shoulders with great individuals such as Andrew Marlowe, Salvador Dali, Jean Cocteau, and Antonio Rodriguez.
In 2011, she donated 195 of her works to the people of Iran and financed the construction of her museum by selling her house in Paris. The foundation stone of this museum was laid in the house where Iran Darroudi lived for 48 years.