Sotheby’s First Ever Saudi-based Sale Generates $17.28 Million

Records were made at Sotheby’s first Saudi sale

There’s no question that the Saudi art scene is evolving at a rapid pace. Non-stop gallery openings, biennials and museum development show no sign of slowing down. It’s probably not a surprise then, that on 8 February 2025, Sotheby’s held its first ever sale in Diriyah. And, promisingly for the burgeoning Saudi art scene, the sale generated a staggering $17.28 million.

Sotheby’s first auction in Saudi Arabia took place in Diriyah, the home of the House of Saud, 15-minutes west of Riyadh. The two-part sale coincided with the Diriyah Season, an annual festival celebrating the cultural heritage and culture of Diriyah. The Kingdom’s first major international art and luxury auction had 117 lots of artworks by both Saudi and international artists, alongside luxury goods.

Entitled “Origins”, the sale - and accompanying exhibition - coincided with the opening of Sotheby’s Riyadh office in the Al Faisaliah Tower. Prior to the sale, the works were on exhibition for one week in Diriyah’s Bujairi Terrace. Encouragingly, the pre-sale exhibition saw almost 2,500 visitors, with 700 people attending panel discussions held throughout that week.

The mixed lot sale suggests that Sotheby’s was testing the water of Saudi appetites. Amongst the luxury items were watches from Richard Mille, Rolex and Audemars Piguet, as well as handbags from Hermes. In addition, sports memorabilia from Cristiano Ronaldo and Michael Jordan were also up for grabs. In terms of art, it was a mixed auction with works by artists from both the West and the Arab region. Among the western artists, there were lots by Pablo Picasso, Wassily Kandinsky and James Turrell.

After Lot 22, the auction had a brief pause as a call to prayer rang out in Diriyah. This was the prelude to three lots by Banksy, Fernando Botero and Rene Magritte each selling for more than $1 million. However, we are most interested in how the works by Arab artists fared in the sale, and these did particularly well. Syrian artist Louay Kayyali and Saudi artist Abdulhalim Radwi set records for their works, achieving $900,000 and $264,000 respectively. Meanwhile, Palestinian-American Samia Halaby’s Blue Trap (in a Railroad Station) (1977) went for $384,000, nearly double its high estimate.

The sale included four works by Saudi artists, all of which sold above estimate. These included works by Mohammed Al Saleem, Ahmed Mater, Maha Malluh and Abdulhalim Radwi. Lebanese artists also did well, with Aref Rayess’ untitled work from his Desert Series (1982) fetching $108,000 and Saloua Raouda Choucair’s Secret of the Cube (1977) being sold for $144,000.

The sale took place in a 250-seat outdoor amphitheater with participants from 45 countries. All seats under the Saudi palm trees were filled with even a number of people standing throughout the sale. Notably, one third of the bidders were under 40. The sale was also Sotheby’s first to accept cryptocurrency as payment for physical artworks, with an AI work called Machine Hallucinations (2021) by Refik Anadol, which sold for $900,000, being paid for in crypto.

While the region has become known for its taste in luxury, 28 jewelry lots and 8 handbags failed to sell. The only artwork featuring a nude figure - Man on a Horse (2010) by Fernando Botero - also didn’t attract a buyer, despite another work by the artist going for just over $1 million. Perhaps the subject matter was not well-suited to a culture famed for its modesty.

The sale totaled $17.28 million with a sell-through rate of 67% by lot and 74% by value. Encouragingly for the Saudi market, almost a third of the buyers were from Saudi Arabia. “The results that we have achieved here during our inaugural sale is a clear signal of the depth of appetite that exists for art”, said Ashkan Baghestani, a Sotheby’s Senior Vice President, in a statement to Artsy, “Tonight was a successful next step.”