Portrait of Omar Khayyam

What it is

This painting by Hossein Behzad, dated 1956, depicts a bearded man in a striped turban leaning on his elbow and gazing to the side, with a Persian inscription and signature in the lower corner. It is a later imagined portrait, not a likeness made during Khayyám's lifetime.

Why it matters

No authentic portrait of Khayyám exists from his own era, so modern artists like Behzad created their own visions of how he might have looked and appeared in thought. This reflects Khayyám's lasting fame as a poet and thinker in twentieth-century Iranian art.

Look closer

• What does the pose and expression suggest the artist wanted viewers to think about Khayyám?
• Why do you think artists continue to create portraits of historical figures even without real likenesses to work from?
• What can and can't a painting like this tell us about the real historical Khayyám?