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Christie’s Holds Auction in Dubai

The auction was the first sale of its kind in the region.

Mairi Beautyman -- Interior Design, 6/2/2006 12:00:00 AM

The economic and cultural boom in Dubai continues. Last week, Christie’s held an international modern and contemporary art auction in the city—the auction house’s first in the Middle East.

The sale, held at the Jumeirah Emirates Towers, included over 120 works of art from the Arab world, Iran, India, Pakistan, and the West. Some 500 attendees participated, and sales totalled $8,489,400. Over 50 new artist records were set.

Highlights included Egyptian artist Ahmed Moustafa’s (b. 1943) Orbits of Praise, which sold for $240,000, and Lebanese artist Paul Guiragossian’s Spring Festival, which sold for $64,800—nearly double the expected amount.

“The results reflect the overall strength of the international contemporary art market and the thirst in the Middle East to compete for major contemporary artists working in the region,” says Jussi Pylkkänen, president of Christie’s Europe and Middle East, and the auctioneer of the sale, “I was particularly delighted to see Europeans, Asians, and Americas competing fiercely by phone for the best works in the sale.”