Donna Stein
Curator, essayist, and author of the memoir The Empress and I; served as an art advisor to Empress Farah Diba Pahlavi and helped build the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art's collection in the 1970s.
Best podcasts with Donna Stein
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Jan 26, 2026 • 47min
Donna Stein, "The Empress and I: How an Ancient Empire Collected, Rejected and Rediscovered Modern Art" (Skira, 2020)
Donna Stein, a curator who advised Empress Farah Diba Pahlavi and helped build Tehran’s modern art collection. She recounts selecting major works by Kandinsky, Picasso, Giacometti and Rauschenberg. She describes life in 1970s Tehran, organizing exhibitions, navigating the Queen’s office, and the collection’s long storage and slow rediscovery.
Jan 26, 2026 • 47min
Donna Stein, "The Empress and I: How an Ancient Empire Collected, Rejected and Rediscovered Modern Art" (Skira, 2020)
Donna Stein, curator and former art advisor to Empress Farah Diba Pahlavi, helped build Tehran’s modern art collection in the 1970s. She recounts travels to Tehran, key acquisitions, and organizing exhibitions. She reflects on working in the queen’s office, daily life as an American in Tehran, and the collection’s fate after 1979.
