English
Christie’s made its fine art debut in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, raising $8.94 million at a sale celebrating the auction house’s 20th anniversary in the United Arab Emirates. The event, titled “MAWASIM: 20 Years of Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art,” brought together works by artists from across the Middle East and North Africa.
Top Lots Drive Strong Results
The evening sale took place at the Abu Dhabi Edition hotel. A work by Iranian artist Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian led the auction. Her piece Variations on the Hexagon (2006) sold for $844,800, far exceeding its pre-sale estimate of $150,000 to $250,000. Bidding on the work lasted seven minutes. Farmanfarmaian is currently the subject of a retrospective at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm.
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Several other lots also performed strongly. Fahrelnissa Zeid’s Composition (1948–49) sold for $524,800, beating its low estimate of $500,000. Faisel Laibi Sahi’s Baghdad Café (The Coffee Shop) (2016) fetched $512,000, above its low estimate of $400,000. Meanwhile, Ali Banisadr’s Homo Deus (2018) also brought in $512,000, approaching its high estimate of $550,000. All figures include buyer’s premium fees.
Auction Records and Sell-Through Rate
The sale achieved auction records for nine artists: Jellal Ben Abdallah, Paul Guiragossian, Faisel Laibi Sahi, Juliana Seraphim, Nabil Kanso, Samia Halaby, Rami Farook, Fatma Lootah, and Afra Al Dhaheri. Guiragossian’s Noces (Wedding) (1958–59) sold for $486,400, just short of its high estimate of $500,000.
Overall, the sale performed well by industry standards. Only eight of the 68 offered lots went unsold, resulting in an 88.2 percent sell-through rate by lot.
New Buyers and International Interest
Christie’s reported strong participation from younger and first-time buyers. More than 30 percent of registered bidders were millennials or members of Generation Z. In addition, 37 percent of participants were new to Christie’s entirely.
In a joint statement, Christie’s Ridha Moumni, chairman of Middle East and Africa, and Marie-Claire Thijsen, head of sale and specialist for Christie’s UK and UAE operations, said the results highlight the “breadth of bidding across the sale” and reflect “the international interest this category has achieved today.” They also noted that the scale of the auction demonstrates “the depth of the region’s art sector and its capacity to support a major sale of this kind.”
Ahead of the Abu Dhabi sale, Christie’s also displayed three major works from its upcoming New York auctions at the Abu Dhabi Edition hotel. These included Wassily Kandinsky’s Betonte Ecken (1923), estimated at $60 million to $80 million; Mark Rothko’s Untitled (1968), estimated at $10 million to $15 million; and Pablo Picasso’s Tête de femme (1939), carrying an estimate of $12 million to $18 million.
