فارسیVahed Khakdan (December 20, 1950 – November 1, 1404) was a prominent Iranian painter whose works are best known for their hyperrealistic approach and mysterious atmosphere. He was an artist who transformed simple, everyday objects into profound, poetic, and thought-provoking subjects, and through them addressed concepts such as the passage of time, memory, migration, loss, and the impermanence of life.
Khakdan was born into an artistic immigrant family in Tehran. His father, Valiollah Khakdan, was a theater set designer, which led him to grow up in the backstage space of theater, among the sets and stage objects, an experience that later had a profound impact on the theatrical and layout-oriented approach of his works.
He showed his talent for painting from a young age; at the age of thirteen, he won a gold medal at the Ramsar Art Camp and, at the suggestion of Gholamhossein Nami, entered the Boys’ Fine Arts Conservatory. There, he studied under Mohammad Ebrahim Jafari and graduated in 1976. He then continued his studies at the Faculty of Decorative Arts in the field of interior architecture, graduating in 1976.
His first solo exhibition was held at the Seyhoun Gallery in 1974. His early works had abstract and later surrealist tendencies, but from the mid-1970s, especially influenced by his military experience and his encounter with poverty and loneliness in remote cities, realistic elements and eerie spaces began to enter his work.
The 1979 Revolution also influenced the social themes of his works. During this period, empty rooms, suitcases, clothes, beds, and abandoned objects became the main elements of his paintings; spaces that seemed simultaneously real and surreal.
To earn a living, he worked for years in the field of stage design, costumes, and masks for theater, as well as children’s book illustration, and collaborated with publishers in Iran and Europe. Among his theatrical works are the designs for plays at the City Theater in the early 1980s. He also has more than forty illustrations for children’s books in his portfolio.
Khakdan immigrated to Germany in 1984 and expanded his professional career there. His first exhibition in Germany was held in 1985 at the Oberhausen Cultural Center, marking the beginning of his extensive presence on the European art scene.
During his professional career, he held numerous solo and group exhibitions in Iran, Germany, and other countries, and his works were displayed in various art spaces.After emigrating, he began creating large-scale oil paintings; works that depict semi-dark rooms with warm, lifeless light, single-point perspective, and a multitude of old, forgotten, and evocative objects:Suitcases, picture frames, letters, toys, clothes, and chests. These objects are depicted with obsessive precision and impressive detail, but despite their photorealistic appearance, they are often the product of his imagination, not from a photograph or model. This combination of meticulous realism with a subjective, suspenseful atmosphere gives his work an atmosphere close to magical realism.
The central theme of his works is the impermanence of humans and objects over time, and the emotional bond humans have with things that are eventually lost. His personal and family experience of immigration played a fundamental role in this perspective. “Homeland” in his works is not a fixed, geographical concept, but rather a mental, in-between space; a place between past and present, Iran and Germany, memory and reality. Rather than directly narrating personal or national history, he pieces together the broken pieces of memory through objects, creating a world that is both nostalgic and unsettling.
Among his notable collections are “Suitcase and Forgetfulness” (Homa Gallery, 2009) and “A Day in Paradise” (Mah Gallery, 2012). His collection of works was first published in Iran in 2012 by Paykreh Publishing.Other books and albums of his works were published in the following years. He also received an award from the Fajr Visual Film Festival for the documentary film “A Horse That Doesn’t Neigh” (Portrait of Khakdan).
Vahed Khakdan was battling esophageal cancer in his final months. He died in Tehran on November 1, 1404, and his body was taken from the Iranian Artists’ House to the Behesht Zahra Artists’ Plot. Today, his works hold a special place in contemporary Iranian painting as a visual narrative of memory, loss, and life in exile.