RIYADH: Sotheby’s returned to Saudi Arabia on Saturday night with its second auction in the Kingdom, drawing a full house to an open-air amphitheater in Diriyah and setting a new auction record for a Saudi artist.
The sale, titled “Origins II,” took place nearly one year after Sotheby’s staged the first-ever international auction in Saudi Arabia.
The auction’s standout moment came early, when Safeya Binzagr’s “Coffee Shop on Madina Road” sold for $2.1 million — more than ten times its high estimate of $200,000. The result nearly doubled the previous auction record for a Saudi artist and became the most valuable artwork ever sold at auction in the Kingdom. It also ranks as the third-highest price achieved for an Arab artist at auction.
Held in Diriyah, the birthplace of the Saudi state and home to the UNESCO World Heritage site of At-Turaif, the event followed a week-long public exhibition at Bujairi Terrace that drew about 4,500 visitors. Collectors from more than 40 countries participated in the auction, with one-third of the lots sold to buyers based in Saudi Arabia.
The sale achieved a total of $19.6 million, exceeding its pre-sale estimate and bringing the combined value of works offered across Origins and Origins II to more than $32 million.
All nine works by Saudi artists offered in the sale found buyers, generating a combined $4.3 million. Additional auction records were set for Egyptian artist Ahmed Morsi and Sudanese artist Abdel Badie Abdel Hay.
An untitled work from 1989 by Mohammed Al-Saleem sold for a triple estimate $756,000, while a second work by the artist, “Flow” from 1987, achieved $630,000.
The sale opened with the auction debut of Mohamed Siam, whose “Untitled (Camel Race)” sold for $94,500. Also making his first auction appearance, Dia Aziz Dia’s prize-winning “La Palma (The Palma)” achieved $226,800.
International highlights included works by Pablo Picasso, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and Anish Kapoor, underscoring Saudi Arabia’s growing role as a destination for major global art events and collectors.
Pablo Picasso’s “Paysage,” painted during the final decade of the artist’s life, sold for $1,600,000, becoming the second most valuable artwork sold at auction in Saudi Arabia.
Seven works by Roy Lichtenstein from the personal collection of Dorothy and Roy Lichtenstein, including collages, prints, works on paper and sculptures, all found buyers. Andy Warhol was represented in the sale with two works: “Disquieting Muses (After de Chirico),” which sold for $1,033,200, and a complete set of four screenprints of “Muhammad Ali,” which achieved $352,000.
