Contentment in the Sonnets of Saadi and its Reflection in Iranian Painting

Happiness, as an inner sensation, is featured in the verses of poets such as Saadi, who is one of the pioneers of the Persian sonnet. In his sonnets, Saadi points to features that create happiness and invites people towards serenity and contentment and far from sorrowfulness and grief. In Saadi's sonnets, the components of external and aphasic happiness as well as inner and infinitive happiness can be studied. The outer components of happiness, such as enjoying the beauties of nature and spring, pleasurable memories, being in the company of friends, songs, music and dance; also additionally, inner components of happiness comprising of goodness, justice, etc. Hence, the most imperative factor in regard to happiness is love. In this article, in addition to the external happiness factors mentioned, the main factor of the manifestation of joyfulness which is love will be discussed. Love is considered as the gem of Iranian painting in such a way that it is impossible to isolate the theme from the structure of the painting. This article relies on library studies and is based on a descriptive and content analysis method.

Research questions:

1. To what extent is happiness reflected and manifested in Iranian paintings? 2. What effect has the concept of happiness had on the structure of the paintings?

Research aims:

1. A study of the concept of happiness expressed in Saadi's sonnets manifested in Iranian painting. 2. To investigate and reveal the intertwined form and content of paintings with themes of joy in painting.