Kamran Diba was born on March 5, 1937 in Tehran and is an Iranian citizen living in Europe & USA since 1977.
Diba started painting in the late 50ies in the United States and cites Abstract Expressionism as influencing his early paintings. During the 60ies he participated in group exhibitions at The Corcoran Gallery Annual (a museum in Washington D.C.); in 1963, Gallery Realites, (Washington D.C.) showed a one- person exhibition of his abstract paintings. Although he learned and started painting in the States, the Iranian culture and civilization gradually influenced his work. The result was a series of paintings influenced by composition of Persian illuminated manuscripts and calligraphy. Before returning to Iran he participated in Tehran Biannual 1960 and represented Iran in the Paris and Venice Biennales.
In Iran his first show was an installation and audio- visual work called” Prodigal Waterman” circa 1966 at Seyhoun Gallery. Zand gallery represented Diba in the seventies. In addition to paintings, in 1974 he made a performance or happening involving the opening night public. Diba, with the collaboration of Parviz Tanavoli, has made memorable public sculptures, which adorn some of his architectural work.
He founded, designed and directed the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art in the 70ies and collected one of the richest collections of modern and contemporary arts outside western countries. Karim Emami, in the encyclopedia Iranica, refers to him as an art catalyst in Iranian society of the 70s.
Recently his paintings of 1961 were shown in IRANIAN MODERN ART MOVEMENT from the collection of TMOCA. This museum holds an extensive number of his early works.
Diba was friend with and frequented often Iranian Artists Tanavoli, Zenderoudi, Pilaram, Ahmad Aali, and Hadjizadeh, and often used his influence to promote their art.
He was friend of Late Dennis Oppenheim and Keith Haring and had extensive collection of Jean Michel Basquiat, Donald Baechler, Franz West and Secundino Fernandez.

His late works relate to the collective memory of Iranians. The titles and images are somehow familiar to at least two generations of Iranian people.
He presently lives in Europe. His recent work has to do with Global News, which is reflective of the chaotic globalized world. He divides his work into Front page & Narratives. Front Page abstracts and records the precise news of a day, in our global world. The new series of work named “Body Parts” are his latest works.
Narratives are a personal commentary by the artist in the form of a newspaper page.
Diba created many outdoor pieces for public spaces, with the collaboration of sculpture Parviz Tanavoli. He also made audio-visual installation in the sixties and introduced performance art to Iran in the seventies.

Diba was the founding Director of Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art 1974-1978. He managed to amass an important collection of modern and contemporary art for this museum. He has been an active participant in art forums, has written articles and is frequently lecturing and interviewed by the Press.
He has been extensively lecturing to name a few are LACMA Museum of Los Angeles, Prague Museum of art, Quai Branly Museum Paris and Gemaldegalerie (museum)of Berlin and eventually in many international art forums and events.

* During the last thirty years, Diba had built a note-worthy Personal collection of contemporary art, which partly was Exhibited at Paris Modern Art Museum Named “Passion Privee” 1995.