#gulf-art-market

#gulf-art-market

The 2025 sale came in just above its low estimate (all estimates calculated without fees), making $14.4m ($17.2m with fees) from 140 lots with a patchy 67% sell-through rate by lot. This year, by contrast, was a more concise offering, with 67 lots of fine art that landed a healthier sell-through rate of 89% and a hammer total of $15.4m ($19.5m with fees), near the pre-sale high estimate of $16.6m.

The Gulf has become an art market hot spot, but insiders say the biggest challenge facing its newest arrivals isn't how to tap the region's wealth, it's how to unlearn assumptions that they may bring with them, particularly concerning the area's money, power, and cultural depth. With Art Basel Qatar debuting next week, the region is no longer a peripheral scene but a new axis of influence for the trade.

The announcement that Frieze will take over the existing Abu Dhabi Art (ADA) fair may have come as a surprise to some key players in the Gulf art scene but, according to Frieze's chief executive Simon Fox, the plan was "considered for a reasonably long time". The evolution of Abu Dhabi's art ecosystem has been "many years in the making", he adds, and now the "stars have aligned".