Sotheby's to hold its first auction in Saudi Arabia next year
Riyadh’s calling…
Collectors of modern and contemporary art have much to look forward to at Sotheby’s inaugural auction in Saudi Arabia. This marks the first time that an international auction will be held live in the Kingdom.
Titled ‘Origins’, the sale will take place on Saturday February 8, 2025 in the historic premises of Diriyah, Riyadh. It will offer an array of Sotheby’s global offerings for new and seasoned collectors.
Diriyah, the ancestral heart of the nation, where the First Saudi State was inaugurated just under two decades before Sotheby’s was established in 1744, represents the very best Riyadh and Saudi Arabia has to offer.
Home to a Unesco World Heritage Site, the venue proves a perfect match for the dazzling array of museum-worthy and historically important items that typify Sotheby’s headline Saudi Arabian auction.
The evening auction will have two parts:
1. Fittingly, home-grown Saudi artists will be amongst the names leading the charge, with the shining star for the fine art sale being Diptych from The Illumination Series by Ahmed Mater. Key figures in international art history will also have their works featured.
2. A showcase of all that luxury encompasses, including jewellery, watches, cars, sports memorabilia, and handbags, will also be going under the hammer.
If you’d like to catch a glimpse of the contents of ‘Origins’ before the auction – where they might disappear into the warehouse of an anonymous collector for the known future – head to Diriyah during the one week preceding the live auctions, where highlights from the sales will be showcased in a free, public exhibition from February 1 to 8 in a week-long celebration of art, luxury, and culture.
Following the auction, Sotheby’s will also open an official office in Riyadh’s Al Faisaliah Tower, cementing the renowned auction house’s commitment to showcasing and selling the work of regional artists.
Ashkan Baghestani, Sotheby’s Head of Sale & Contemporary Art Specialist, commented, “We wanted to inaugurate our official new home in Saudi Arabia with a taste of what Sotheby’s can bring to the doorsteps of both those who have started their own collections, and others who are about to enter this world for the first time. As such, we wanted this first sale both to serve as an introduction to our offering and to embody the cross-category spirit we pride ourselves on curating.”
More details on the sale contents of ‘Origins’ will be announced in due course, so stay tuned.
Visit: Sothebys.com
Images: Supplied