B
reaking artist and auction records - 2023 has been one of the Middle East department’s most successful years. The recent Fall sale of 20th Century Art/Middle East represented the highest total since the introduction of the sale as a regular fixture of the London auction calendar, back in 2016.
Among the impressive results, a record was set for the highest price paid for any Saudi artist ever to be offered at auction, with a painting by Mohammed Al Saleem from 1986 soaring to $1.1 million. In the Spring, alongside our bi-annual sale, we offered the eclectic Al Zayani collection which doubled its pre-sale estimates, with a total of $2.9 million and established another artist record for pioneering Egyptian artist Gazbia Sirry. Further records were broken for Lebanese painter Huguette Caland and for the sculptor Saloua Raouda Choucair, who was included for the first time in our London Modern and Contemporary Art Evening sale this summer.
We are looking forward to the numerous cultural initiatives taking place in 2024 which will centre around North African, Arab, Turkish and Iranian artists throughout the world and continue to champion these extraordinary and multicultural talents. We hope to build on our successes of 2023 and continue to highlight incredible stories from the region through our auctions, from iconic Modernists to the next generation of artists.
Modern And Contemporary Middle Eastern Art: 2023 Highlights