<img decoding="async" class="lazyload size-full-width wp-image-1582982" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==" data-src="https://observer.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/The-St.-Regis-Saadiyat-Island.jpg?quality=80&w=970" alt="Aerial view of The St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort in Abu Dhabi with white sand beach and turquoise Gulf waters.” width=”970″ height=”546″ data-caption=’This December, the auction house will launch its first luxury sales series in Abu Dhabi at the St. Regis Saadiyat Island. <span class=”lazyload media-credit”>Courtesy of Sotheby's</span>’>
Sotheby’s is set to stage its first and most valuable November auctions preview in the Middle East, presenting a trove of Western masterpieces collectively valued at $150 million in Abu Dhabi before they head to the auction block in New York. Prime works by iconic Western masters such as René Magritte, Edvard Munch, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Frida Kahlo and Camille Pissarro, all drawn from trophy estates Sotheby’s secured this season, will be on view for a two-day presentation and event October 1-2 at the private Bassam Freiha Art Foundation in Abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat Island Cultural District. From there, the traveling showcase will move to London and Paris before landing in New York for the November marquee sales.
“To bring them all together here in Abu Dhabi is not only historic, but marks the most valuable and significant exhibition Sotheby’s has ever staged in the Middle East,” Julian Dawes, Sotheby’s Vice Chairman, Head of Impressionist and Modern Art told Observer.
Among the works selected for the Abu Dhabi preview is Munch’s St. John’s Night (Midsummer Night’s Eve) (1901-03), one of the most anticipated lots from the $400 million Leonard A. Lauder Collection, with an estimated value in excess of $20 million. Catering to the newly kindled passions of the local upper class, the lineup also includes Magritte’s Le Jockey perdu (1942), from the collection of American philanthropists Matthew and Kay Bucksbaum. The work was so iconic that only months after it was painted, it became the first of Magritte’s Surrealist canvases to be reproduced—and, in fact, the first of any of his works to be reproduced abroad. Van Gogh’s still life Romans Parisiens (Les Livres jaunes) (1887) and Gauguin’s Nabis-period La Maison de Pen du, gardeuse de vache (1889) are top lots from another trophy estate Sotheby’s secured for the November sales: the collection of Chicago patrons Cindy and Jay Pritzker, expected to generate $120 million across categories. The Van Gogh and Gauguin works in preview in Abu Dhabi are estimated at $40 million and $6-8 million, respectively.
Frida Kahlo’s painting is another remarkable highlight: created in 1940, a year of intense personal turmoil, this densely symbolic meditation on life, death and rebirth is estimated at $40-60 million. It is expected not only to set a new auction record for Kahlo but perhaps to eclipse the current record for any work by a woman artist. That record, too, belongs to Sotheby’s: in 2021, the auction house sold her Diego y yo for $34.9 million in New York.
The caliber of the selection, along with the investment in logistics and insurance required to send such multimillion-dollar works for a mere two-day presentation, underscores Sotheby’s belief in the Gulf’s potential as a market for art, culture and luxury. While the house has staged notable events in Abu Dhabi in recent months, this marks a milestone: its first-ever public exhibition of fine art in the emirate ahead of the marquee sales in New York. “As Sotheby’s extends its presence and activities in the Middle East, this exciting exhibition underscores our commitment to bringing masterpiece works of art to the region,” Sotheby’s CEO Charles F. Stewart confirmed in a statement
Sotheby’s Gulf strategy now unfolds with its first auctions. The preview precedes Abu Dhabi Collectors’ Week, Sotheby’s first series of luxury marquee sales in the emirate at the St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort in early December. What better setting for a full luxury immersion than a beachfront resort where white sand meets the still-underrated turquoise water of the Gulf?
The eclectic selection seems tailored to the tastes of the region’s new wealth, as tested earlier this year with Sotheby’s inaugural Saudi Arabian auction in Diriyah, which closed at $17 million. As in Diriyah, the Abu Dhabi offering spans high jewelry and watches, Formula 1 and rare vintage cars, plus exclusive real estate via RM Sotheby’s and Sotheby’s Concierge Auctions—all combined with a museum-grade presentation of international fine art.
“Collectors’ Week in Abu Dhabi represents a defining moment for Sotheby’s and for the global luxury market,”Josh Pullan, Head of Sotheby’s Global Luxury Division, told Observer. “With the Middle East – and the UAE in particular – becoming a dynamic force in high-end collecting, this new chapter allows us to bring once-in-a-lifetime treasures directly to a growing audience of passionate and sophisticated collectors.” Pullan described the cross-category auction marathon as something far beyond traditional auctions. “It’s about crafting an immersive, world-class experience that that speaks to the heart of what it means to collect today.”
The luxury sales fall during one of the busiest, most turbocharged weeks in the region, timed with the Formula One Grand Prix, the Milken Institute Middle East and Africa Summit, Abu Dhabi Finance Week and Bitcoin MENA. “By any measure, Abu Dhabi has become a leading global destination for culture and luxury,” said Katia Nounou Boueiz, head of Sotheby’s U.A.E. and deputy chairman, Middle East. “In that spirit, we are excited to join forces with ADIO to present a vision of the future for collecting and luxury experiences,” she added, referring to the house’s recent partnership with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office, the government body charged with attracting and facilitating investment. This past April, Sotheby’s and ADIO staged a $100 million showcase of diamonds at the Bassam Freiha Foundation in Abu Dhabi.
From this, it’s clear Sotheby’s isn’t only courting local collectors but also the global elite now circulating through the region, drawn by investor-friendly policies as much as by a dense calendar of high-profile events, as the U.A.E. and its neighbors continue to invest in positioning themselves as a global economic and cultural hub.
During Collectors’ Week, Sotheby’s will also auction a trio of future competition cars from McLaren Racing’s portfolio: the 2026 McLaren Formula 1 team car, a 2027 McLaren United WEC entry and a 2026 Arrow McLaren IndyCar slated for the Indianapolis 500—all crossing the block on December 5 before they’ve even been unveiled or raced. Joining them are a 2017 Pagani Zonda 760 Riviera (estimate: $9.5-10.5 million) and a pearl-white Aston Martin One-77 (estimate: $1.3-1.6 million).
Leading the jewelry selection is The Desert Rose, billed as the largest fancy vivid orange-pink diamond ever graded, estimated at $5-7 million. On the watch side, a Rolex “Oyster Albino” Daytona, produced in the late 1960s-early 1970s, headlines the offering with an estimate of $500,000 to $1 million.
The eclectic luxury auction marathon is preceded by The NBA Auctions, where Sotheby’s is applying a similar logic, offering a curated selection of official, game-used player jerseys in a series of online and live auctions held September 26-30, timed with the NBA Abu Dhabi Games 2025 and targeting the same passionate audience already flying in for the event.
This full unveiling of Sotheby’s plans for the region comes after the auction house secured a staggering $1 billion investment deal last year with Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund ADQ. Sotheby’s is cementing its position as a global powerhouse for luxury. At the same time, the strategy for the UAE aligns with Sotheby’s ambition to expand its global reach beyond the traditional auction model, positioning the brand as a prime luxury destination in its own right. “At Sotheby’s, we have taken incredible strides to cement our position as a global powerhouse for luxury,” said Josh Pullan, global head of Sotheby’s luxury division, in a statement.
That ambition has already been demonstrated by the restructuring of its headquarters in Hong Kong, Paris and soon, New York—each reconceived as “another world,” where boutique-style spaces for luxury items blend seamlessly with museum-grade galleries for fine art. The model offers a full experience of exclusivity, designed to target a broader wealthy audience of amateurs who are not, or not yet, connoisseurs.
According to a survey conducted by BCG in partnership with Altagamma, the Middle Eastern luxury goods market was valued at €15 billion in 2023, with forecasts predicting it will double to €30-35 billion by 2030. If BCG’s The Way Forward for Luxury report (2025) underscored the need for brands to refocus on top-tier, high-net-worth clients as the aspirational segment proves volatile, its 2023 survey also revealed that about 40 percent of global Very Important Clients already come from the Middle East—meaning the region is disproportionately represented among the world’s highest spenders.
Still, it is worth remembering that BCG’s forecasts apply primarily to traditional luxury goods—fashion, jewelry, watches, accessories—and to the broader luxury ecosystem of experiences, wellness and design. The art market, by contrast, remains a niche, high-risk subsegment with dynamics that do not always align neatly with luxury trends. Yet it can still learn much—especially at the top end—about how today’s buyers of exclusive goods and experiences are shifting in behavior and profile. Additionally, as most auction houses have discovered, luxury collectibles often serve as a gateway: an entry point for clients new to auctions who, over time, can be educated to grow into other categories.
According to ArtTactic, contemporary art sales at auction in the Middle East and North Africa totaled just $22.8 million in 2024, with the regional auction market falling 20.5 percent year-on-year. Still, the report noted this was slightly better than the 27 percent drop in the global auction market over the same period. More tellingly, online sales in the MENA market surged 234.5 percent—perhaps signaling the rise of a younger buyer profile, or at least one more comfortable bidding behind a screen than with a front-row paddle.
Sotheby’s is not the only house working to cement a foothold in the Gulf. Christie’s has been making its own inroads, securing a commercial license to operate in Saudi Arabia and appointing Nour Kelani as head of client services in the kingdom.
Meanwhile, Art Basel is set to launch its first Qatar edition next February in Doha, with a more open-ended exhibition under the artistic direction of Wael Shawky. Yet the fanfare comes with a caveat: recent air strikes have raised doubts about its feasibility, as Gulf states find themselves in the crosshairs of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and broader regional tensions. The growing geopolitical instability threatens their carefully constructed image as diplomatic brokers, even as governments invest billions in art and culture to position the Gulf as the next liberal cultural destination for international tourism and global talent.
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