Spring Sales Analysis for the MENA Modern and Contemporary Art Auctions

A slightly uneventful season

It’s no secret that the global art market has taken a bit of a slump recently. The recent Art Basel Global Market Report found that sales in the global art market declined by an estimated $57.5 billion in 2024. Interestingly, the report noted next to nothing about the MENA region. May is sale season at Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Bonhams for the region, but there were no records smashed and plenty of lots went unsold. That said, sales totals seem to be relatively healthy, being slightly higher than auction results from the autumn 2024 sales. So, let’s run through what actually happened during the spring 2025 MENA Modern and Contemporary Art auctions.

Let’s begin at Sotheby’s, who kicked off the season with their London sale on 1 May 2025. The sales totalled £1,561,211 with 85 lots, 23 of which remained unsold. This edition included items from the Azari family collection, which consisted of important works by Iranian modernists. Other highlights included 12 works by Saudi pioneer Abdulhalim Radwi (1939-2006) from a private Spanish collection. However, only five of these lots sold, the highest of which was “Untitled (Coffeepot)” (1995) which went for £38,100.

The Sotheby’s sale was particularly successful for Iranian and Turkish artists. The highest selling work of the night was by Iranian artist Bahman Mohassess (1931-2010), whose "Untitled (Owl)" (1987) sold for £152,400. Meanwhile, fellow Iranian artist Sohrab Sepehri (1928-1980) also sold well, with his “Untitled” (1960s) going for £107,950. On the Turkish front, Fahrelnissa Zeid (1901-1991) “Abstract (From the London Series)” (1959) went for £152,420, which is over 50% more than its estimate of £100,000. Another Turkish artist who did well on the night was Burhan Dogancay (1929-2013), whose "Untitled (From the Breakthrough Series)" (1975) sold for £88,900. Other highlights from the Sotheby’s sale include "Untitled (Portrait)" (1954) by Shakir Hassan Al Said (1925-2004), which sold for £76,200. Meanwhile, “Evanescence” (1991) by Paul Guiragossian (1926-1993), was also amongst one of the highest selling lots, going for £63,500.

The next sale on the spring sale calendar was at Christie’s, which took place online via the Dubai office, totalling $2,522,268 between 24 April and 8 May 2025. Depending on the conversion rate of the day, that means that the Christie’s sale took around $339,000 or around £255,637 more than the Sotheby’s sale. The Christie’s sale included 68 lots, all of which were sold.

Interestingly, despite Abdulhalim Radwi performing poorly in the Sotheby's sale his "Untitled" (1988) was amongst the best performing lots in the Christie's sale, going for $100,800. This work was acrylic on canvas, whereas the works that did not sell in the Sotheby's sale were on paper. In fact, Saudi artists did very well in the Christie's sale, with Mohammed Al Saleem (1939-1997)'s "Desert Plants" (1973) going for $126,000, and Ahmed Mater's "Illumination X-Ray" (2011) going for $88,200.

The highest selling work in the Christie’s sale was Samia Halaby's "Water Lilies" (2013) which sold for $138,600. Iranian artists also did well in the Christie’s sale, with Charles-Hossein Zenderoudi's "Eyn + Eyn" (1970) going for $113,400, while fellow Iranian artist Massoud Arabshahi’s "Untitled" (1974) selling for $63,000. There was a third piece to break the $100,000 mark, with Nabil Nahas' "Untitled" (2013) acrylic and pumice on canvas work going for $107,100. Interestingly, the three highest-selling works in the Christie’s sale were all by living artists.

The season ended with the Bonhams’ sale, which took place on 21 May 2025 in London. The Bonham’s sale included 93 lots, with 36 of these being left unsold. That said, the Bonhams sale totalled £2,090,338, meaning that while Bonhams is generally seen as less prestigious than Sotheby’s and Christie’s, it was the highest selling auction out of the three, winning £225,850 or $305,530 more than the second highest sale at Christie’s.

The highest selling work in the Bonhams sale was by Gazbia Sirry (1925-2021), whose "A Woman with Water Pots" (1951) sold for £216,300. It was also a particularly good night for Iraqi artists with Dia Al-Azzawi's "Spells for the Number of Secrets" (1971) going for £53,740 and Shakir Hassan Al Said's "Fragments of Tradition (Shariha Turathiyya)" (1990) going for £76,600. Arguably Iraq's most famous modernist, Jewad Selim (1919-1961), had two lots in the sale with "Head (Vase)" (1955) and “Pastorale” (1955) going for £63,900 and £114,700 respectively. And, after her success at the Sotheby's auction, Fahrelnissa Zeid had another top-selling work in the Bonhams sale too, with her "La Mer Rouge (The Red Sea)" (c 1950s) going for £102,000.

So, what can we take away from these sales results? It is a little difficult to say. There was a huge difference in sales totals between the highest and lowest selling auctions, which both - Sotheby’s and Bonhams - took place in person in London, with a number of lots being unsold. While all the lots at Christie’s went to new homes, the total auction sales were in the middle of the pack. In terms of trends, it seems clear that Iranian, Turkish and Saudi artists did well this spring.

Perhaps Sotheby’s figures were down because the house also had a sale in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia in February 2025, bringing in a staggering $17.28 million. It’s important to note here, however, that this was a mixed sale of lots by MENA artists, western artists and luxury items. That said, the lots by MENA artists brought in $4,280,400, meaning that if these lots were in the May sale, Sotheby’s would have come up tops. In GBP - the currency that the May London sale was held in - the combined total of Sotheby’s February and May sales is £4,721,577. The February Sotheby’s sale also saw some records being made, with Louay Kayyali (1934-1978) and Abdulhalim Radwi setting records for their works, achieving $900,000 and $264,000 respectively. There was no such impact in the May sale.

If we compare the spring sales results to the autumn 2024 figures, Sotheby’s totalled £1,359,600, Christie’s totalled £958,230 and Bonhams came in at £2,395,350. This shows that Sotheby’s and Christie’s did better in May 2025, whereas Bonhams had higher sales figures in autumn 2024. In general, it appears that there is an upwards trajectory for modern and contemporary MENA art sales, something which has not been replicated across the rest of the art market. We will need to keep watching to see how the autumn 2025 sales turn out to get a full read on the situation.

*Please note that sales figures have been reported in the currency of sale. Any conversions between USD and GBP are accurate at the time of writing, but these figures may fluctuate.