Botero, Banksy win big in Sotheby’s debut Saudi auction

The historical mud-brick city of Diriyah in Saudi Arabia played host to an unusual crowd on Saturday night: art aficionados, new collectors and first-time paddle holders melding together to take part in Sotheby’s inaugural auction in the kingdom.

The offerings were as diverse as the crowd, with everything from high-end collectible watches to handbags, paintings, jewelry and sports memorabilia on sale to the highest bidder. In the end, it may have been Saudi Arabian businessman Amr Zedan who struck the most luck.

Zedan, who had participated in Sotheby’s auctions on the phone prior to the event, won bids for two pieces, including the oil painting Society Woman by Fernando Botero for $1 million. A new art collector, Zedan said he plans to add the piece to a portfolio started with his wife.

Society Woman was among the top lots of the night, along with work from Banksy that fetched $1.2 million. In all, the 117 lots of the evening sold for a total of about $17 million, compared with a pre-sale estimate of $14 million to $20 million.

That’s not a lot of money for a major art auction or in moneyed Saudi Arabia. But Sotheby’s was aiming for a solid if limited start for the kingdom to start catching up with regional neighbors.

The United Arab Emirates has been active on the arts scene for years, with the Louvre Abu Dhabi drawing visitors since 2017 and both Sotheby’s and Christie’s operating in Dubai. While its art industry is still developing, Saudi Arabia’s economy is the biggest in the Middle East, and its young population of citizens are being encouraged to pursue more creative avenues to help drive non-oil growth.

For Sotheby’s, the event’s stakes were high. The auction house is investing to expand in new countries as it battles a prolonged slump in the art market along with rival Christie’s. Sotheby’s recently sold a minority stake to Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, in part to establish a regional partner to help sharpen its focus on the Middle East, said Chief Executive Officer Charles Stewart.

Holding an auction in Saudi Arabia is part of that strategy. “This is the beginning of a new chapter of focus.”

Before the auction started, attendees and registered bidders who spoke to Bloomberg expressed deep curiosity on what items would sell best and noted that prices seemed lower than in auctions in New York and Paris.

“They’re testing the waters,” said Ali Mubarak, who works at a local art house. “It’s hard to know what people want in such a new market.”

The open-air venue, surrounded by palm trees alight in yellow hues and the aroma of cardamom from servings of Arabic coffee, featured 250 seats. Participants came from 45 countries and about a third of buyers were from Saudi Arabia, Sotheby’s said. More than 30 per cent were under the age of 40.

The collection put up for sale was broad by design to give Sotheby’s a chance to “see where the real heat is” and showcase the breadth of auction offerings to new audiences, Stewart said.

Heba Alali was one participant who traveled from abroad, driving five hours from Bahrain to Diriyah, located just outside the Saudi capital of Riyadh, to bid for the first time after watching auctions online for years.

“I came tonight to finally experience it myself,” said Alali, who was outbid for the Botero painting that was among the night’s top lots. “It’s important to us in the Arab world to see this happening in Saudi Arabia.”

Contemporary Competition

The strongest interest was for modern and contemporary art, including paintings and ceramics and pieces from the Islamic world.

The battle for the opening piece, an oil on canvas panting by late Lebanese artist Huguette Caland, was among the most heated, with bids over the phone, online and in person. It was ultimately sold over the phone.

A work on paper creation by Picasso and light installation piece by James Turrell were also highly competitive. Leading the offering of Saudi art was a painting by Mohammed Al Saleem, which fetched $660,000, triple the estimate.

As the night moved on to luxury items including sports memorabilia worn by Cristiano Ronaldo, the first major football star to play in a local Saudi league, the crowd at Diriyah slimmed. Bidding was heavy and quick among online participants but saw limited in-person paddle activity.

The Ronaldo items, including four jerseys and signed boots, sold for a total of about $151,000. 

In the luxury category, a pair of pendant Graff earrings featuring pear-shaped diamonds sold for $780,000.

Top Lots

Ahead of the sale, three pieces carried the highest estimates at $1 million to $1.5 million: a Fernando Botero sculpture, a René Magritte painting and Richard Mille timepiece.

In the end, Magritte’s L’État de veille painting, signed and dated 1958, fetched $1.2 million — on par with Banksy’s Subject to Availability, which was created as part of his series of vandalized oil works.

While it wasn’t Botero’s sculpture that ultimately won out, his Society Woman painting earned applause when being won out by a local Saudi bidder. There was competition from three people before Saudi businessman Zedan ultimately secured the prize at what he called a “good deal.”

“We happened to be at the right place at the right time,” he said.