Christie’s will host its first fine-art auction in Abu Dhabi on November 1, 2026, marking 20 years since the company debuted in the UAE. This milestone event shows Abu Dhabi’s emergence as a global cultural hub, aligning with the city’s broader cultural evolution.
The event, titled MAWASIM: 20 Years of Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art, will take place at The Abu Dhabi EDITION. The auction will feature over 70 works from six decades, tracing artistic movements across the Middle East and North Africa, from Egypt and Iran to Morocco and Saudi Arabia. Works from the Dalloul Collection in Beirut and the Barjeel Art Foundation in Sharjah highlight the key role of regional collections in preserving and promoting Arab art.
Christie’s became the first international auction house to hold a sale in the region when it debuted in the UAE in 2006. The upcoming auction reflects on the artists, collectors, galleries, and institutions that have shaped the region’s art scene, emphasizing the growing international recognition of Middle Eastern art.
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Highlights include Paul Guiragossian’s Noces (Wedding) (1958–59), estimated at $300,000–500,000, alongside Samia Halaby’s Yesterday (1978), Mohamed Melehi’s A30 (1962), Marwan Kassab-Bachi’s Kopf (Head) (1987), and Nabil Nahas’s Inka Dinka Doo (2013). These pieces showcase the diversity of modern and contemporary art from the region, including abstraction, geometric experimentation, expressive figuration, and explorations of nature, identity, and perception.
“Twenty years after our inaugural auction in the UAE, it is especially meaningful to bring together exceptional works that reflect the depth of scholarship, artistic innovation and cultural exchange that have defined the category,” says Dr. Ridha Moumni, Chairman of Christie’s Middle East and Africa.
