Ancient and medieval art of Iran: the problem of succession

The paper shows that the lack of interest in Iranian artists to realism has its roots in the worldview of ancient Iranians, which was formed in the culture of Persia before the spread of Islam in Iran. One of the stylistic features of Persian painting is symbolic and explicit rejection of realistic images. Some scholars see the origins of this feature in Persian painting is the product of Islamic culture. In many books about the Persian artistic culture, lack of realism embodied because of cultural norms of Islam. However, the analysis shows the absence of realism in the Persian fine art was in the era of the Achaemenid’s Empire (VI-IV centuries B.C.E.).