About
Minimal Shahnameh, Combination of literature and visual art.
This project include: A book plus collection of 67 pieces of paintings, by Persian author and painter, Jabbar Farshbaf.
The book of Minimal Shahnameh, include short stories of the entire Persian Shahname Ferdowsi along with images of Shahnameh paintings. Each story visualized by a painting. Linking images with the written content makes readers enjoying the vivid scenes of the stories while reading.
The paintings are titled as each story of the book. The artist’s exceptional drawing technique and his uses of naive colors and writing the name of some special characters on the canvas makes each piece of painting more story telling style and at the same time completely modern and unique in this genre and category.
The painting are all the same size and technique, 100×120 cm, Acrylic on canvas.
What artist says
My work is grounded in the beauty and mystery of Persian literature, especially in the deep, symbolic world of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh. As a teacher, I wanted my students to engage with this epic not through academic difficulty, but through joy, simplicity, and imagination. That impulse led to the creation of the Shahnameh Projects.
I started with a question: How can I make the Shahnameh understandable to everyone, without losing its poetic power? The answer came through storytelling and painting. “Minimal Shahnameh” was born as a book of short, clear retellings of the entire epic, paired with 67 original paintings, each interpreting a specific tale or hero. The result is not only a book and an exhibition; it is a full multimedia collection, including a video book that brings the entire experience to life with narration and visuals.
Though I had no formal art training, I began painting to give form to these stories. I use bold, naive colors and often write key names directly on the canvas, making each piece both a visual scene and a reading experience. My goal is to merge language and image in a way that revives the ancient, without making it feel distant or “historic.” Instead, I want people to feel the pulse of these legends today.
As a researcher, I’m fascinated by what lies beneath the surface of the Shahnameh, the hints, names, and words that appear only once, without explanation. These details are not random. They are clues to deeper stories, buried histories, and forgotten meanings. I try to uncover and reimagine them, bringing lost voices and hidden epics back into the light.
My art is both an invitation and a bridge. I invite viewers and readers into the vast world of Persian legend, and I bridge the past with the present, the poetic with the visual, and tradition with new life.
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