Aydin Aghdashloo (Persian: آیدین آغداشلو; born October 30, 1940) is an Iranian painter, graphic artist, art curator, writer, and film critic.

In a surrealistic environment, he painted dolls having no faces influenced by Gergeo Deki Riko, and they later became a large part of his series "Years of Fire and Snow".

[7] After the 1979 revolution and the eight-year war, most of Aghdashloo's works were about memorials and objects proceeding to doom and damage; abandoned huts and views, green wooden rotten windows with broken glasses, old doors with rusted locks, and deadly blades as symbols of missiles hitting the cities; all of them showed the painter's thinking of gradual doom and damage as the passing of hard times.

[13] On August 22, 2020, Sara Omatali, a former reporter, publicly stated that during an encounter in late 2006, Aydin Aghdashloo forcibly grabbed her and kissed her in his office, where they had met for an interview.

[14][15] On August 27, 2020, Aghdashloo issued English and Persian public statements denying the allegations and expressing his support for women's movements, stating that false accusations made it difficult for real victims to seek justice.

Furthermore, he acknowledged making mistakes in life but refuted the claims made in a New York Times article and by a source blogger, labeling them as documents and forgeries aimed at ulterior motives such as tarnishing his reputation.

[19] 205 individuals, including artists, gallery owners, and art critics, have raised concerns about similarities between the New York Times article and narratives about Mr. Afshin Parvaresh, a social media investigative reporter, over the past four to five years.

[20] On September 8, 2020, a group of students of Iranian artist Aydin Aghdashloo released a collective statement, emphasizing the demand for the rights of all, especially women.

Addressing accusations against Aghdashloo, the statement explained their deliberate choice of silence to avoid contributing to a smear campaign and expressed a hope for the genuine demands of the community to find truth.

The statement, concluding with a list of endorsing students, offers insight into Aghdashloo's impact as perceived by those who have directly experienced his teachings and mentorship.

[25][26][27] On September 25, 2022, Aydin Aghdashloo was the first prominent Iranian painter to release a personal statement in support of the protests that were sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini by Iran’s Morality Police.

He was also one of the signers on a collective statement by Iranian artists, scholars, critics, art historians and curators in support of the student protests in the country published on October 20, 2022.