Latest news with #AshkanBaghestani
Al Arabiya
09-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Al Arabiya
Saudi Arabia's inaugural international art auction nets over $17 million
A historic night unfolded under the stars in Saudi Arabia on Saturday as the Kingdom hosted its first-ever international auction dedicated to fine art and luxury. The groundbreaking event, held in Diriyah — the ancestral heart of Saudi Arabia's capital, Riyadh — saw a total of $17.3 million in sales, signaling a milestone moment for the region's art market. The sale attracted collectors from 45 countries, with nearly a third of purchases made by Saudi buyers and more than 30 percent of participants under 40. The unprecedented event, titled Origins, was hosted by Sotheby's — one of the world's leading auction houses — and brought together art collectors from around the world in Riyadh. Speaking on the event's significance, Ashkan Baghestani, the head of sales for Fine Art at Sotheby's, remarked: 'For many years, Saudi Arabia's cultural expansion has been a source of great inspiration to us at Sotheby's.' He further said: 'Tonight marked a historic milestone in the art market of the region, set against the backdrop of Diriyah, the birthplace of the Kingdom and a burgeoning new hub for culture. The results that we have achieved here during our inaugural sale is a clear signal of the depth of appetite that exists for art, and the thirst that is ready to be unlocked.' Top sales in fine art Among the highlights of the auction was a piece from the estate of renowned Colombian artist Fernando Botero, titled Society Woman, which fetched $1 million, while Banksy's and René Magritte's L'État de veille each commanded $1.2 million. Pablo Picasso's Fleurs (1948) sold for $204,000 — over three times its estimate. Saudi artists were also well-represented. A painting by Mohammed Al Saleem, a pioneer in Saudi modern art, which combines Arabic calligraphy with Saudi landscape horizons, sold for $660,000 — three times its estimate. Works by Abdulhalim Radwi, Ahmed Mater, and Maha Malluh also exceeded expectations, bringing in a total of $1.1 million through Saudi art sales. One of the most significant sales in modern Arab art was Louay Kayyali's Then What??, which set a new artist record at $900,000. Other notable regional sales included Samia Halaby's Blue Trap (in a Railroad Station) for $384,000 and Saloua Raouda Choucair's early wood sculpture for $144,000, with proceeds benefiting education and research. Sports memorabilia and luxury sales In the sports memorabilia section, a game-worn Michael Jordan jersey from the 1998 NBA playoffs fetched an impressive $960,000. Cristiano Ronaldo's match-worn jerseys and signed boots from the 2024 UEFA European Championships also proved popular, selling for a combined $151,200. Luxury items saw fierce bidding, with a pair of Graff diamond pendant earrings realizing $780,000 and a diamond Himalaya Birkin by Hermès surpassing estimates to reach $336,000. A Rolex Paul Newman Daytona sold for $240,000, while a one-of-a-kind commissioned Cartier Crash watch achieved $228,000. Landmark moment for Saudi art market The contents of the Origins exhibition were on display at Diriyah's Bujairi Terrace from February 2, offering a week-long celebration of art, luxury, and culture. The exhibition coincided with Diriyah Season, an annual festival showcasing the area's rich heritage. With nearly 2,500 exhibition visitors and more than 700 attending panel discussions leading up to the auction, the event marks a significant step in Saudi Arabia's growing influence in the global art and luxury market. The large presence of young collectors further signals a dynamic future for the Kingdom's cultural and artistic landscape. As the country continues to invest in the arts, this inaugural auction helped set the stage for future high-profile sales and artistic collaborations.
Arab News
06-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Arab News
Hammer time: Highlights from the Kingdom's first international auction
RIYADH: On Feb. 8, the auction house Sotheby's will host 'Origins' in Riyadh. The sale is billed as 'the first international auction in Saudi Arabia's history.' Many of the lots have already been on display in the accompanying week-long exhibition in Diriyah's Bujairi Terrace, which ends tomorrow. Here, Ashkan Baghestani, Sotheby's head of contemporary day sale, contemporary art, New York and Middle East, talks us through some of the highlights from the artworks up for sale in 'Origins.' Abdulhalim Radwi 'Untitled' He played a crucial role in the development of Saudi modernism, alongside Mohammed Alsaleem and a few others. He was actually one of the first artists to be sent abroad by the Kingdom to study in Europe, and he's one of the rare artists who blends European traditions like cubism and expressionism with Saudi traditions. Personally, he's one of my favorite Saudi modernists — maybe because of his European influences. This particular work hasn't actually been seen since the Eighties. It was acquired directly by the current owner from the artist himself. We selected this one from a few others we were offered because we felt it really described Saudi culture and the color palette is quite rare for Radwi. You see a lot of his work with blue hues or green tones, but rarely with red. Monir Farmanfarmaian 'Variations of Hexagon' No one created works like Monir — blending Western abstraction with Persian traditions — she's so distinctively unique; a lot of her practice and technique was very much informed by traditional Persian craftsmanship that you would find in mosques and palaces from the Safavid era up to the Qajar era. The specific technique is called aina-kari, which is mirror work. So she brought some of these sophisticated American techniques of construction and building and architecture and sculpture into traditional Persian craftsmanship with mirror works like this one. René Magritte 'L'État de Veille' Magritte may be the most celebrated European surrealist of all. He's broken records season after season. He's of Belgium origin. He died in 1967. This work is from 1958, so later in his career, but very much informed by his most iconic motifs — the architectural blend with the environment. This is a gouache that depicts the bright blue skies dotted with cottony clouds, and what seem very close to old Belgian facades. And there's always this idea of trompe l'oeil with Magritte, where you're not really sure what you're looking at or when you're looking at it. Refik Anadol 'Machine Hallucinations: Mars' Anadol embraces new technology, but his works are deeply human-centric, exploring emotions and the interplay between people and their environments. 'Machine Hallucinations' is his best-known body of work. He collaborated with NASA, feeding millions of pictures from satellites and spacecraft of deep space into an algorithm which generated these images that are constantly morphing and transcend any understanding of what we're seeing. They're extremely abstract. They're also very spiritual. They're constantly in flux. This one is blends images from the International Space Station, the Hubble Telescope, and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. One of the reasons I really wanted a digital artwork is that I thought it was a perfect nod to a country that's heavily invested not only in many forms of traditional art but also in the art of the future. Louay Kayyali 'Then What ??' This is probably the most important iconic Arab modern work ever to come to auction. It's a very important moment for us and for the market. Kayyali is regarded as one of the most socialist artists in the region, alongside Mahmoud Sabri, and he was really committed to representing 'normal people.' He was deeply angered and moved by the Naqba — the exile of the Palestinians — and the title of this painting asks: After the exile, what is left? There's real psychological depth and a real division in the canvas. On the left, looking at the past, and on the right looking towards God and the future. Asim Abu Shakra 'Untitled' Abu Shakra died aged 28. He painted a cactus most of his life, and his works are always in these earthy colors — greens, browns, gray. They have a certain nostalgic tone to them. And the brush strokes are sudden, they're very spontaneous. They sort of sit in nothingness. Abu Shakra was living in Israel as an Arab artist, so there's this analogy of a cactus surviving in arid conditions in the desert, without much help. It doesn't need a lot of water. It has the needles to protect it from exterior harm. It's a symbol for dislocation and endurance but also a deeply personal reckoning with the artist's own mortality. The cactus offered hope because some actually produce flowers when they're about to die, which is a beautiful analogy. Fernando Botero 'Society Woman' Botero has transcended every generational guideline and every geographical region; he speaks to such a wide audience. His works became iconic in the Nineties. They are easy and playful, but they're also serious paintings. Botero anchors himself in the tradition of Old Master paintings, but gives them a twist: most of his paintings and sculptures are always a bit inflated. And regardless of the size and the scale, they have an elegant, commanding posture. He showed that even if you're voluptuous, you can have grace, femininity, confidence and celebrate your fullness. He often highlights the contrast between the soft sensuality of the body and the sculptural qualities of the human form. He really reconsidered conventional ideals of beauty and proportion.
