Parviz Tanavoli's The Prophet is a reminder of the essential connections between "high" and "low" art and between everyday functional objects and artworks.

When the Museum of Modern Art put the gnome-like Prophet next to the sleek, shiny curves of Umberto Boccioni’s Unique Forms of Continuity in Space, it was like putting raw horseradish on your pizza: a bit of a shock, but surprisingly good. Tanavoli has focused his attention on Persian history and art forms, which critics call the “Saqqakhaneh” school, a reference to "Shi’ite [Muslim] shrines, small alcoves with a water dispenser where people leave religious offerings, decorated with various kinds of metalwork and devotional objects." 

Much of Tanavoli's cultural focus is "folk culture," which means that kings and other rulers have rarely been able to control it. It's the "low" art, the art which is not supposed to qualify as art, like animated GIFs, lanyards and jokes, or art of thrift stores and garage sales which Andy Warhol collected. As art historian Hamed Yousefi explains, "A group of pioneering modern artists 'discovered' southern Tehran as the site of authentic Iranian identity. Chief among them, Parviz Tanavoli and Hossein Zenderoudi appropriated working-class talismans and lowbrow calligraphy." In Iran this is the art of the marketplace, which reflects the traditions of Zoroastrianism and other ways which precede Islam. This ancient culture is built from layers and layers of storytelling, dances, music, and other customs, and its revitalization can threaten the legitimacy of the extremely religious political demagogues. This folk culture is a fascination for Tanavoli, a prolific author who "has published books on locks...gravestones, horse and camel trappings from tribal Iran, rugs and textiles, make-up boxes, tablecloths, ceramics, and the magic of letters and numbers, among other topics." According to the suggestion of one Persian-language author, Tanavoli's locks and grates, like the one in The Prophet, are companions, serving as protective metaphors for an "unknown inner space."

Since the Iranian Revolution of 1979, Tanavoli's work, and his name, have become lightning rods for fierce criticism of the influence of the West in Iran. According to Amin Saeidian, this is due to an interpretation which reads his work in terms of Western existentialism, which can be quite pessimistic, rather than in terms of Eastern mysticism. It could also be that the "East," due to its profound influence on the "West," is not actually so separate from it: Rumi, a profound influence on Tanavoli, is a bestseller in the West, too. This work has been especially controversial as his critics say it is forbidden to make or sell a sculpture of the prophet Muhammad. Although they now make policy, these critics were a group of dissenters with extreme right-wing views when Tanavoli made The Prophet: their interpretation of Islam, Twelver Shi'ism, was not central during the reign of the Shah, the last monarch of Iran.

In 2017, in response to an executive order by President Donald J. Trump, the Museum of Modern Art placed a wall text next to The Prophet which reads, in part, "This work is by an artist from a nation whose citizens are being denied entry into the United States." The museum moved works by Matisse and Picasso to display The Prophet, along with works by other artists from countries facing the travel ban.