Sotheby’s has given its first fine art auction in Abu Dhabi a name that doubles as a mission statement: Breaking Ground. On 10 December, at the new Saadiyat Grove Experience Centre, a Monet will go under the hammer a short walk from where the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi opens its doors the following day — timing that tells you everything about how deliberately the capital’s cultural season has been choreographed.
The sale crowns the second edition of Sotheby’s Collectors’ Week, which returns to Saadiyat with six auctions: watches, jewellery, handbags, cars and high-performance bicycles on 9 December, then the fine art debut on the 10th. The headline lot is Claude Monet’s “Prunes et Abricots” (1882–85), commissioned by the dealer Paul Durand-Ruel for the drawing room of his Paris apartment and estimated at US$2 million to $2.6 million. Andy Warhol’s 1985 “Ads” portfolio brings the Pop; Christo’s 2007 drawing “The Mastaba of Abu Dhabi (Project for UAE)” — a monument imagined for these very sands — carries an estimate of $180,000 to $250,000, and a Botero bronze, “Donna con Ombrello,” is pitched at $350,000 to $550,000.
The more telling story is local. The sale’s title honours artists who paved the way, and the Emirati pioneers are present in force: paintings by Hassan Sharif and Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim, Najat Makki’s 1988 “A Woman’s State of Being” ($30,000–50,000), and first-ever auction appearances for Nujoom Al-Ghanem and Nasser Al-Yousif. Women artists thread through the catalogue, from Huguette Caland and Inji Efflatoun to Fahrelnissa Zeid and a 2022 Jade Fadojutimi estimated at $500,000 to $700,000.
“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,” says Katia Boueiz, head of Sotheby’s UAE and chairman for the Middle East, who expects eyes on the sale from well beyond collectors based in the Emirates. She will not lack for context: Christie’s holds its own first Abu Dhabi fine art sale on 1 November, Frieze Abu Dhabi debuts on 19–22 November, and then comes the Guggenheim. Full lot details arrive in November. December on Saadiyat is shaping up to be the Gulf art market’s coming-of-age party — and everyone is invited.
