Cemetery is the largest existing early work on canvas to date by Iranian-American artist Siah Armajani.

Just one year after Armajani’s arrival in the United States in 1960, his father, Aga Kahn Armajani, passed away. Grappling with the life-altering transition from his homeland and the loss of his father, Armajani created this monumental painting in honour of him.

Aga Kahn Armajani was a successful merchant who imported textiles from Europe to Iran. He was also a lover of poetry, reading to a young Siah every night. Encouraging his son’s artistic talents, he even hired a private calligraphy tutor for Siah at a young age. However, the tutor, unimpressed, declared, “Your son has no talent whatsoever.”  To this, Aga Kahn replied to Siah, “He’s old and from a different school. Don’t listen to him.” This supportive relationship profoundly shaped Armajani’s life-long artistic journey.

Central to this work is a rubbing of Aga Kahn Armajani’s tombstone, collaged onto the bottom right corner, displaying his father’s name, birth and death dates (1901–61), and the family’s hometown of Rasht. The background of the work is a traditional Persian textile, likely a tablecloth, featuring a cypress tree motif. Part of the tree motifs are overlaid with painted fabric: these superimposed elements are done on coarser fabric, highlighting the texture and depth of the work.

Armajani’s writing, scattered throughout the painting, may appear to be in Persian, but it is largely indecipherable. This practice of personal, unreadable calligraphy is a recurring element in his art.

This piece reflects Armajani’s lifelong passion for connecting art with life, family, and exile—a theme explored in other significant works such as Shirt #1 (1958, Metropolitan Museum of Art), Letters Home (1960, MAMCO, Geneva), and Written Minneapolis (The Last Tomb) (2014, Lannan Foundation, Promised Gift to the Menil Collection).