Sotheby’s is embedding itself further in Saudi Arabia by hosting a second sale in the Kingdom next month. The Origins II sale (31 January)—scheduled ahead of the new Art Basel Qatar fair in February—will feature headline lots by Anish Kapoor, Andy Warhol and crucially works by a range of Middle Eastern artists including Safeya Binzagr of Saudi Arabia.
The sale, to be held in the town of Diriyah outside Riyadh, unites more than 70 works and objects from a range of collecting categories, including ancient sculpture, 20th-century design and prints, Middle Eastern art, Modern and contemporary works, Latin American art, and Modern and contemporary South Asian art, says a Sotheby’s statement.
Andy Warhol, Disquieting Muses (After de Chirico), 1982
courtesy Sotheby's
A late Picasso painting on cardboard, Paysage (1965), carries an estimate of $2m to $3m. The work depicts the French Riviera landscape around the village of Mougins where the artist spent his later years with his last wife Jacqueline Roque. Anish Kapoor’s concave mirror sculpture, Untitled (2005), also goes under the hammer (est. $600,000-$800,000) along with Andy Warhol’s Disquieting Muses (After de Chirico), 1982 (est. $800,000-$1.2m) and his complete set of four screenprints of Muhammad Ali he made in 1978 (est. $300,000-$500,000).
Coffee Shop in Madina Road (1968; est. $150,000-$200,000) by Safeya Binzagr, dubbed the “spiritual mother of contemporary Saudi art”, comes from the collection of Alberto Mestas García, the Ambassador of Spain to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from October 1966 to May 1976, and his wife, Mercedes Suárez de Tangil Guzmán. A work by another key Saudi artist, Mohammed Al Saleem, is a prime example of Horizonism, an abstract style inspired by the shifting sands of Riyadh (Untitled, 1989; est. $150,000-$200,000).
Mohammed Al Saleem, Untitled, 1989
courtesy Sotheby's
At the first Origins sale held in February, Sotheby’s reported a full house for the auction which was held in a 250-seat outdoor amphitheatre and featured participants from 45 countries. The sale totalled $17.28m with a sell-through rate of 67% by lot and 74% by value. Almost a third of the buyers were from Saudi Arabia.
Half of the items consigned were works of art while a quarter comprised watches and jewellery; there were also 17 designer handbags and several items of sports memorabilia. But luxury items are notably absent in the forthcoming sale.
“I did not attend last year but it seems Sotheby’s going forward will separate [luxury] collectibles from art as the depth and variety of collectors deepens in Saudi and the Gulf,” says the Middle Eastern collector Mohammed Afkhami.
“I think ring-fencing this sale exclusively as art, and offering important Saudi works coupled with iconic global artists starting at a more reasonable price point, is a time-tested winner aimed at attracting the next wave of collectors.” Afkhami is due to be in Diriyah for the next contemporary art biennale (30 January-2 May).
The auction house is taking root in the Kingdom. Late 2023, Sotheby’s opened a new office in Riyadh’s Al Faisaliah Tower while in September, the company sponsored the inaugural Cultural Investment Conference held in Riyadh.
