Inside Iran's Billion-Dollar Art Basement

When some of the collection briefly went on display in 2005 Andre Derain's "Golden Age," a 1905 painting of female nudes, was notably absent. Also hidden was the centerpiece of a Frances Bacon painting triptych. The center panel could be taken as homoerotic, showing two naked men asleep in bed.

(ABCNEWS.com)

There are plans to display the collection permanently once museum space is expanded, Sadeghi said. If those plans materialize -- full-time public access to view the pieces -- it would fulfill the dreams of art lovers worldwide.

"In two or three years we can improve the museum and have a permanent exhibition," said Sadeghi, adding that the museum is hoping to buy more Western works in the coming years to fill out the collection.

Sadeghi, who was appointed by President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, expressed a warm outreach in a Western culture the Iranian leadership publicly reviles.

"We hope we can buy 100 paintings from Europe and America. We really respect [their] culture and we hope they respect us too," he said.

Among the types of work they hope to add to the collection: Mexican revolutionary art, perhaps seen as consistent with the revolutionary ideals of Iran's ruling regime.

The Iranians insist the Western works are safe and well-maintained in the climate-controlled basement. It is a coveted collection -- art lovers around the world have tried to buy the pieces, but Sadeghi says they are not looking to sell.

There is only one known instance of a piece departing from the Iranian archives: a work by abstract expressionist Willem de Kooning was traded for rare illustrated pages of the Shahnameh, an Iranian epic poem.

For the time being the collection seems intact, though kept underground and well out of the public eye.