"The Seven Trials of Rostam / Haft Khan-e Rostam" Painting

Jabbar Farshbaf

Jabbar Farshbaf is an Iranian multidisciplinary artist, author, poet and literary researcher whose paintings draw deeply from the symbolic and narrative world of Persian literature, particularly Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh.

Although his background is rooted in literature and research, Farshbaf’s engagement with painting developed as a way to give visual form to the stories, characters and cultural memory he encountered through his study of Persian epic literature. His paintings combine simplified forms, bold colours, handwritten names and narrative compositions to create a distinctive visual language that is both immediate and deeply connected to storytelling.

A significant body of his paintings emerged alongside Minimal Shahnameh, his literary adaptation of Ferdowsi’s epic. Each painting responds to a specific story, character, or moment from the Shahnameh, but the works are not intended merely as illustrations. They function as independent visual interpretations, translating literary narratives into images through colour, symbolism, gesture and composition.

Farshbaf is particularly interested in the relationship between image, language and memory. His paintings seek to bring ancient Persian stories into a contemporary visual space without distancing them from their cultural roots.