
Christie's first offered Contemporary Middle Eastern art in its inaugural sale in Dubai in May 2006, widely held to be the watershed event in the Middle East art market. In the four years since, Contemporary Middle Eastern art has become firmly established as a category as museums, galleries, curators and collectors worldwide have begun to show an active interest.
The April 2010 Dubai sale saw a resurgence of this category, with bidding at levels not seen since 2008, achieving $15.1 million. A major focus was 25 Egyptian paintings and sculptures from the Collection of Dr. Mohammed Said Farsi, which collectively raised $8.76 million. The highlight was Mahmoud Said's Les Chaddoufs which sold for over $2.4 million, setting an auction record for any modern Middle Eastern painting. Other areas also performed strongly as the Iranian sculptor Parviz Tanavoli, broke the million-dollar mark for the second time.
Held in April and October, the Dubai auctions continue to act as a major catalyst in the development of the contemporary art market in the Middle East. Further acknowledging the wider region and the growth of interest amongst collectors, in 2008 Christie's introduced Turkish art into the Dubai auctions.
Specialist
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Fax: +971 4 425 5629