Modern Iraqi art has been traditionally treated as a movement that was born after the British conquest of Iraq in 1917 and was based on the western European concept of modern visual art. Hence the early phase of this movement was characterized by strong adherence to the western tradition and transmission of that culture to Iraq. However, the cultural elements of indigenous Iraqi art—part of the wider culture of the region under European colonialism—subsisted and played an important role in shaping the identity of this art in due course. Decisive in this identity is the long tradition of image-making in Iraq, from the Mesopotamians through to the pre-Islamic period. The long heritage of Arabic culture and Islamic tradition was present in Iraq by the turn of the twentieth century. The ethnic diversity and religious pluralism of Iraqi society further defined that dynamic cultural heritage and its sources. This article discusses the different aspects of those indigenous cultural sources that—along with the importation of Western art-shaped the identity of modern Iraqi art. It also provides a brief introduction to the foundations of modern Iraqi art beyond the typical prevalent western-oriented definition found throughout major publications on the subject. It is an attempt to build a new approach to and a new reading of the subject.