Sotheby’s stages first international art auction in Saudi Arabia

As the sun sets over the golden mudbrick walls of At-Turaif that housed Saudi Arabia’s royal family 300 years ago, a glittering crowd will gather nearby this weekend to covet a historic collection of treasures.

Sotheby’s will use the UNESCO World Heritage Site in Riyadh’s historic Diriyah district as the backdrop for the kingdom’s first-ever international art auction. The event on Saturday will offer 100 lots of art, jewelry and sports memorabilia with an estimated value of more than $20 million.

“This sale is a huge deal for us because it involves us having to build an auction from scratch and convincing the consignors to sell,” Ashkan Baghestani, Sotheby’s Head of Contemporary Art Day Sales, told The Circuit. “It is an evening sale because we wanted to come in with the big guns, offer masterworks, but also works that are affordable in terms of price point to the widest audience possible.”

The landmark sale, titled Origins, is being staged amid falling global art sales, with dealers and auction houses increasingly looking to wealthy Gulf countries to help keep them afloat.

The contents of the sale are being presented first in an exhibition, which opened on Feb. 1 and runs until the day of the auction. A wide range of fine art and luxury goods as well as digital art will whet the appetites of both new and seasoned art collectors.

Up for auction are works by Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, René Magritte, Wassily Kandinsky and Fernando Botero, alongside pieces by prominent artists from the Middle East. Those include the late Lebanese poet and painter Etel Adnan, Louay Kayyali from Syria, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian from Iran and Ahmed Mater, one of Saudi Arabia’s biggest names.

Other pieces include a James Turrell’s light installation going for between $120,000 and $180,000 (the American artist is presently working on a specially commissioned artwork for the Royal Commission of AlUla to be placed in the region’s Wadi AlFann or “Valley of the Arts”); Antony Gormley’s “Sidle” estimated at $700,000 to $900,000; the late sculptor Alexander Calder’s “Haute Couture” installation, estimated between $700,000 to $900,000 and “AMOR” by Robert Indiana going for $220,000 to $280,000.

“By showcasing a well-curated and versatile selection of works, the auction challenges misconceptions about the Saudi market—particularly the notion that wealth alone drives collecting habits,” Saudi art collector Basma Al Sulaiman told The Circuit.

“Instead, it highlights the region’s deep-rooted cultural and tribal heritage, which values cautious and informed decision-making,” said Al Sulaiman, founder of the Basma Al Sulaiman Museum of Contemporary Art, known as BASMOCA.

The Sotheby’s auction will also feature a collection of valuable watches in which the top lot is a Richard Mille RM038 Yohan Blake prototype. The watch, which was custom-made for Blake, a Jamaican sprinter who wore it during the 2012 London Olympic Game, is estimated at $1 million to $1.5 million. There’s also a yellow gold Cartier Crash made in 2007, estimated at $130,000 to $260,000, several Rolexes, and an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak estimated at $80,000 to $150,000.

In the jewelry category, there is a pair of Harry Winston earrings made of ruby, turquoise and diamonds, estimated at $35,000 to $55,000, and a Bulgari Serpenti wristwatch in rubellite, emerald and diamond, estimated at $60,000 to  $70,000. 

Since Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman came to power in 2016 and launched his ambitious Vision 2030 socio-economic plan, culture has been at the forefront of major government investment both in the private and public realm, from major museums in the works to blockbuster biennales of contemporary and Islamic art.

“We’ve witnessed in the last five years with Vision 2030 a strong focus on art and culture on a governmental and institutional level,” Baghestani says. “There is now great cultural tourism in this country. We felt that it was now time that the commercial world and community within the art world should start kicking and have more of a presence in Saudi.”

However, the Sotheby’s auction is being staged as the Kingdom is tightening the purse strings amid lower oil prices and an overcommitment of resources affecting numerous Vision 2030 projects. Sotheby’s, meanwhile, faces struggles of its own.

The auction house founded in London in 1744 and now owned by Moroccan-born billionaire Patrick Drahi, signed a deal with Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ in August 2024 for both parties to inject a joint $1 billion into the company.

After the deal was made a leaked report in September showed Sotheby’s core earnings had declined by 88 percent and its auction sales had dropped by 25 percent in the first half of 2024. In December the auction house announced over 100 layoffs. 

While the Sotheby’s auction is taking place during a period of great market uncertainty, it holds much promise for its ability to foster growth for the art market in Saudi Arabia, fostering new collectors and encouraging the rise of the country’s own art market, still largely dominated by the public sector.

As Baghestani puts it: “So much needs to be done still on a commercial level. I think being the first ones and the first runners to offer such a wide range of work is exciting.”