Key Points
- Christie's debut Abu Dhabi fine art auction totalled $8.94 million on Sunday, setting nine records.
- The 70-lot sale marked 20 years since Christie's first UAE auction in Dubai in 2006.
- It was the house's strongest Middle Eastern evening sale total in over a decade.
The latest:
Christie’s first fine art auction in Abu Dhabi totalled $8.94 million on Sunday, the auction house’s highest evening-sale total for modern and contemporary Middle Eastern art in more than a decade. Held at The Abu Dhabi Edition, the sale — titled Mawasim: 20 Years of Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art — offered 70 lots by 58 artists from 13 countries, and produced nine auction records.
Details:
- Top lot: Iranian artist Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian’s Variations on the Hexagon (2006) led the evening at $844,800 after almost seven minutes of bidding. The work had carried a pre-sale estimate of $150,000 to $250,000, meaning it closed at more than three times the top end of that range.
- Second tier: Turkish artist Fahrelnissa Zeid’s Composition (1948–1949) sold for $524,800. Iraqi artist Faisel Laibi Sahi’s Baghdad Cafe (The Coffee Shop) (2016) and Iranian artist Ali Banisadr’s Homo Deus (2018) each fetched $512,000, according to Christie’s.
- Matched prices: Three works tied at $486,400: Armenian-Lebanese painter Paul Guiragossian’s Noces (Wedding) (1958–1959), Egyptian artist Mahmoud Said’s Portrait de Princesse Fadia (1952), and a second Zeid canvas, Endless Thoughts, dated to the 1970s.
- Rest of the top 10: Palestinian artist Samia Halaby’s Yesterday (1978) sold for $358,400 and Lebanese artist Ayman Baalbaki’s Babel Tower (2012) for $281,600. Iranian artist Farhad Moshiri’s Untitled (2003) closed the 10 highest-priced works at $230,400.
- The records: Christie’s reported nine auction records from the single session, including medium-specific records for Guiragossian and Halaby. The house did not break down the remaining seven records by artist.
- Debuts: Emirati artists Rami Farook, Fatma Lootah and Afra Al Dhaheri were offered at auction for the first time, alongside Lebanese artist Nabil Kanso — placing UAE-based names in the same session as established regional market leaders.
- The buyers: More than 30 per cent of registrants were millennials or Gen Z and 37 per cent were new to Christie’s, the auction house said, pointing to demand beyond its existing regional client list. Individual buyer identities were not disclosed.
- Christie’s framing: Anthea Peers, Christie’s president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, told The National that bidding came from across the house’s global client base and described the room as engaged and dynamic. She said: “This is only the beginning.”
- Provenance: The auction followed a week of exhibitions and events in the capital and included works drawn from the Dalloul Collection in Beirut and the Barjeel Art Foundation in Sharjah, two of the region’s best-known private holdings of modern Arab art.
Background:
Christie’s held its first UAE auction in Dubai in 2006, making the emirate the regional centre of the international art trade. Sunday’s sale in Abu Dhabi marked two decades since that debut, and the house’s first fine art auction in the capital.
Between the lines:
The pattern in the results points to a widening base rather than a one-off headline price. A top lot clearing three times its high estimate, nine records in a single session, and 37 per cent first-time Christie’s registrants all describe new money entering the category. Peers framed Abu Dhabi as a long-term commitment, saying the house intends to build on the result.
What’s next
Watch whether Christie’s schedules a second Abu Dhabi sale and where it places it in the calendar, and whether the three Emirati artists who debuted on Sunday appear in subsequent regional auctions at higher estimates.
