Discourse Analysis of the National Art in Iran

National art is more than other forms of art associated with official power institutions, therefore, one can use discourse analysis in order to discover its semantic and ideological layers. However, the goal of the art discourse analysis is not merely the analysis of the meaning of the text (artistic work), it is rather the analysis of the circumstances within which this meaning is produced. Hence, in art discourse analysis, the institutions which produce meaning and reproduce discourse are dealt with. This departure from text to discourse producing institutions indicates the ultimate goal of art discourse analysis which is to reveal the relation between text, power, and ideology in the visual culture.In this article, using Chantal Mouffe and Ernesto Laclau’s theory, we explained the competition among identity discourses in Iran and showed how some signifiers are accentuated while some others are marginalised, and how artists create literary words and visual signifiers in poetry, painting, architecture and cinema around the central signifier.In the current study, using main concepts of Mouffe and Laclau, we dealt with Iran national identity discourses, which include: central signifier, moments, field of discursivity, and crisis in discourse.Iranian national art will be discussed in three historical periods: the first one is during the rule of Reza Shah Pahlavi (1920 – 1941), through which a nationalistic, pre-Islam ancient-oriented discourse prevails Iranian art; the second one is during the rule of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (1941 – 1978), through which an identity discourse referring to the domestic culture prevails Iranian art; and the third one is the post-revolutionary period (up to the present time) during which an Islamic discourse with anti-imperialistic, revolutionary discourse has prevailed the Iranian national art.