Marcos Grigorian, a prominent modernist painter and art critic, had a leading role in introducing and spreading modern art. In 1948, he entered Kamal Al-Molk School to learn the basics of painting. Two years later he went to Italy and studied at the Rome Academy of Fine Arts under the supervision of Roberto Milli. He exhibited his works in Italy and France. In 1954, he returned to Iran and held his first solo exhibition at the Iran-US Association in Tehran. Later, he established the Aesthetic Gallery, a gathering place for young modern artists and a center for introduction and education. Grigorian played an important role in setting up and forming the first Tehran Biennial; An event that has played a major role in introducing and consolidating modern art in Iran. One of his most important activities was studying traditional arts and collecting works and supporting the " Kahve-Kaaneh " Artist.

Gregorian is considered one of the first artists to follow conceptual art. He lived in the United States for some time and returned to Iran in 1969 by the invitation of the Tehran University of Fine Arts. In 1973, he once again exhibited his collection of works in the Iran-US Association. The following year, he founded the Group of Free Painters and Sculptors, along with several others, and held several group exhibitions. In 1979, he went to the United States and established the Gorky Gallery.

In 1989, he chose to live in Yerevan and was able to establish the Near Eastern Museum of Art in Yerevan with the collection of handicrafts and paintings he had collected. He died there.


After his first trip to Italy and his training there, Grigorian adopted expressionism for fictitious or real images. Influenced by the European pop art movement, he created collage works influenced by street life with help of common routine objects. In the 70s, he created a collection of his works in which soil and thatch was the main material, with geometric simple shapes or spiral lines, which are his most important works.

Dana Stein, a curator of the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, writes about his thatched works: “Marco Grigorian's Artworks shows the geography of metaphysics through a bird's eye or a multidimensional vision. Very simple and familiar four walls form the Structure of his works. This framework and four walls symbolize social contracts, four directions, four seasons, four breezes, four parts of the day from the four corners of the world. Marco Grigorian Pictured all of this to the four walls of a room in his work”.