Works by Claude Monet and Andy Warhol will go under the hammer alongside paintings by pioneering Emirati artists when Sotheby’s holds its first fine art auction in Abu Dhabi this December.
Titled Breaking Ground, the December 10 sale will include Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim, Hassan Sharif and Najat Makki. It is the main addition to the second edition of Collectors’ Week, expanding the programme beyond the luxury sales that launched the event last year.
All six auctions will take place at the new Saadiyat Grove Experience Centre on Saadiyat Island. Watches, jewellery, handbags, cars and high-performance bicycles will go under the hammer on December 9, followed by fine art the next day.
The sales will take place during a particularly busy season for Abu Dhabi’s art scene, following Christie’s first fine art auction in the city on November 1 and the inaugural Frieze Abu Dhabi from November 19 to 22. Sotheby’s fine art sale will fall a day before Guggenheim Abu Dhabi opens on December 11.
Alongside its luxury auctions, the inaugural Collector's Week included a fine art exhibition.
“Whilst those works were there to be seen rather than sold, they were a real focal point – we had queues of people clamouring to see these iconic pieces in the flesh,” Katia Boueiz, head of Sotheby’s UAE and chairman, Middle East, tells The National.
“Together with conversations that took place with everyone who walked through our doors on the ground, this set the tone for our planning for this next edition.”
This year, visitors will be able to bid on works including Warhol’s Ads portfolio from 1985. Created two years before his death, it reflects his fascination with glamour, fashion, film and celebrity.
The Monet work, Prunes et Abricots, was painted between 1882 and 1885 and commissioned by his art dealer, Paul Durand-Ruel, for his apartment drawing room in Paris.
A drawing by Christo depicts the Abu Dhabi Mastaba, the proposed permanent artwork in the Liwa desert conceived by Christo and Jeanne-Claude. The project was designed as a monumental structure made from hundreds of thousands of oil barrels.
The sale also brings together several generations of artists from the region. Alongside paintings by Ibrahim and Sharif, both pioneers of contemporary art in the UAE, Sotheby’s says it is working with artists and their estates to introduce Nujoom Al-Ghanem and Nasser Al-Yousif to auction for the first time.
Boueiz says the title Breaking Ground emerged from the idea of artists who paved the way for subsequent generations. That approach also informed the focus on women artists, with works by Najat Makki, Huguette Caland, Inji Efflatoun, Fahrelnissa Zeid and Etel Adnan among those selected. Other artists represented include S H Raza, Fernando Botero and Paul Guiragossian.
“We hope that by them sharing a space, an exhibition, and a global platform, collectors will be able to see new and unexpected synergies,” Boueiz says.
“There will definitely be eyes on this sale from around the world, not just our clients based in the UAE, which makes it all the more important to curate a cohesive mix of art from the region and beyond. What I hope this auction will achieve is to introduce these artists to a much wider audience – whether it is the Emirati artists being introduced to international collectors, or vice versa.”
While fine art expands the programme, the luxury auctions will return with about 50 watches from the single-owner Shapes of Cartier collection, including a rare Twin Strap dating from about 1970–1971.
The car sale will feature several Ferraris, including a 2009 Scuderia Spider 16M and a 2004 360 Challenge Stradale, while jewellery highlights include a fancy brown-orange diamond weighing more than 40 carats.
Public exhibitions, panel discussions and masterclasses will precede the auctions. Sotheby’s will release further details of the lots in November; exhibition dates and visiting hours were not included in the announcement.
Boueiz expects the offering and format of Collectors’ Week to evolve in future editions. Alongside the auctions, she sees a role for Sotheby’s in helping prospective collectors develop their knowledge through talks and access to specialists.
“The investment in world-class museums, cultural institutions and education is creating an environment where collecting can flourish, not only at an institutional level but increasingly within the private sector,” she says.
“Ultimately, our ambition is not simply to ‘bring’ the international art market to Abu Dhabi, but to help connect and embed Abu Dhabi even more deeply within the international art market.”