Leyly Matine-Daftary

Lili Matin Daftari, a painter, was born in 1936 in Tehran, Iran. She went to England as a child and, in 1956, studied painting and sculpture at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London, and later continued her studies at Camberwell College of Arts. She returned to Iran in 1960 and taught sculpture at the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Tehran, until 1965. Her works were exhibited in the second, third, and fifth Tehran Biennials, where she received an award in the fifth edition. Matin Daftari held her first solo exhibition in 1966 at Bourges Gallery in Tehran. In 1976, she participated in the 8th International Painting Exhibition in Cagnes-sur-Mer, France. Matin Daftari began her professional artistic career in the 1960s and was among the first Iranian artists to break away from traditional pictorial conventions, introducing a new visual language. Her paintings, inspired by the minimalist movement from the 1960s onward, developed a distinct aesthetic identity. By 2025, her works had been exhibited in 21 solo and group shows in Iran and abroad and appeared 47 times in domestic and international art auctions. Lili Matin Daftari settled in France after 1979 and passed away there.