The Guardian's weekly photo feature presents a global visual summary of the past seven days, compiled by leading photojournalists. The selection includes powerful and sometimes distressing images covering major international events, from the ongoing crisis in the Middle East and a Russian drone attack in Kharkiv to a Saharan dust storm in Crete and the launch of NASA's Artemis II mission.
The Bell Gallery at Brown University is presenting "Prisoners of Love: Until the Sun of Freedom," a new exhibition by internationally renowned sound, video, and installation artists Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme. The show is co-curated by Kate Kraczon, Director of Exhibitions and Chief Curator of the Brown Arts Institute (BAI) / The Bell, and Thea Quiray.
Saudi Arabia's art market reached a significant milestone with Sotheby’s second "Origins" auction in Riyadh, headlined by the $2.1 million sale of Safeya Binzagr’s painting "Coffee Shop in Madina Road." This record-breaking event, which nearly doubled its high estimate, underscores the rapid growth of the Kingdom’s art economy under the Vision 2030 plan. The auction saw a mix of local and international buyers, signaling that Saudi artists are increasingly being integrated into the global contemporary art dialogue.
Tehran Auction, Iran's premier auction house, held a $1.5 million art sale at the Azadi Hotel in October, selling 120 works by top Iranian Modern and contemporary artists. This strong domestic performance contrasts sharply with the weak showing of Iranian art at Sotheby's and Christie's in London, where prices have slowed amid sanctions and geopolitical isolation.
JD Malat Gallery Dubai is presenting *The Unsaid Remains Remembered*, the debut solo exhibition in the Middle East by Paris-based artist Sophie-Yen Bretez. The show features large-scale canvases that move beyond the human figure to explore landscapes, domestic objects, and natural motifs, using symbolic thresholds like windows, tables, clocks, and fruit to evoke memory, silence, and transformation. Bretez describes her approach as a 'dramaturgy of passage,' capturing unseen moments when time overlaps and absence carries presence.
Ilya and Emilia Kabakov's participatory art project *Ship of Tolerance* (2005–present) has been reinstalled at Oakville Galleries on Lake Ontario, near Toronto, opening on 31 May as part of the exhibition *Between Heaven and Earth* (through 20 September). The project, which involves children from diverse backgrounds creating painted sails for a 60-foot wooden boat, has previously traveled to locations including Siwa, Egypt; the Venice Biennale; Sharjah; Brooklyn; Miami; Moscow; and London. Emilia Kabakov continues to lead the project after Ilya Kabakov's death in 2023, and the latest iteration arrives amid global crises including wars, migrant displacement, and US President Donald Trump's threats to annex Canada.
Tuan Andrew Nguyen's sandstone and brass sculpture "The Light That Shines Through the Universe" (2026) has been installed on the High Line in Manhattan as the park's fifth site-specific commission. The 27-foot-tall work, selected from nearly 60 proposals, resurrects the destroyed Bamiyan Buddhas of Afghanistan, which were demolished by the Taliban in 2001. Nguyen sourced artillery brass from Afghanistan to cast the sculpture's mudra hand gestures, symbolizing fearlessness and compassion, and had the sandstone carved in Vietnam. The piece is on view through Spring 2027.
Lebanese performance artist Rawya El Chab has debuted the second installment of her trilogy, "Crossing the Water," at The Brick in Brooklyn. The performance explores the collective trauma of the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon and her family's subsequent flight to the Ivory Coast, blending personal memory with political satire and mythology. By embodying various roles—from suspicious neighbors to puppet-like politicians—El Chab navigates the complexities of life under military occupation and the persistent feeling of surveillance.
The Guardian's picture editors curated a global selection of photographs for April 2, 2026. The images include scenes of cherry blossoms in Tokyo and Seoul, Holy Week processions in Costa Rica and Venezuela, a NASA rocket launch in Florida, political events in the US and the Middle East, and the aftermath of storms in Greece.
Major auction houses including Christie's, Sotheby's, and Phillips are experiencing a significant shift as luxury goods—such as cars, watches, handbags, and jewelry—see explosive growth while fine art sales decline. In 2025, fine art sales at the 'Big Three' fell by 35% to $7.04 billion, whereas luxury auction sales rose 18% to $1.84 billion. This trend is most visible at Sotheby’s, where luxury now accounts for a third of total revenue, driven by massive private sales and strategic expansions into sectors like collector cars.
The article recounts the Sack of Persepolis in 330 B.C.E., when Alexander the Great and his Macedonian forces pillaged and destroyed the Achaemenid capital. It describes Persepolis as a marvel of ancient architecture, including the 31-acre limestone terrace, the Apadana hall with 36 columns, and the palace of Xerxes I. Ancient sources like Diodorus of Sicily and Plutarch offer conflicting accounts of the destruction—whether it was spontaneous, premeditated, or fueled by alcohol—while modern historians view it as a political act of retribution for Xerxes' attack on Athens.
The Middle East Institute (MEI) in Washington, D.C., is presenting an exhibition titled "Arab Pop Art: Between East and West," featuring works by Arab artists who remix global Pop Art with local voices and political commentary. The exhibition includes a closing celebration with a live performance by Syrian-American rapper and poet Omar Offendum, an artist talk with participating artist Marwan Chamaa and co-curators Lyne Sneige and Laila Abdul-Hadi Jadallah, and a film screening of "A Thousand and One Berber Nights" (2023) with director Hisham Aidi. The show is part of MEI's broader programming and has been highlighted in multiple media outlets including YUNG Magazine, Hyperallergic, Vogue Arabia, and Washington City Paper.
The 20th anniversary edition of Art Dubai 2026, held at Madinat Jumeirah, signaled a shift from a traditional art fair model toward an expanded cultural platform integrating exhibitions, institutional presentations, gallery booths, and public programming. Key highlights include the Dubai Collection's 'Made Forward' exhibition, which drew from over 20 private collections across the UAE to present works from West Asia, North Africa, and South Asia, and gallery presentations such as Adrian Pepe and Omar Al Gurg's sculptural systems using Awassi sheep wool at SOLO Bucharest, Lana Khayat's textile-based abstraction at Hafez Gallery, and Alisa Bagdonaite's digital art showcase at Dom Art Projects featuring artists Sofya Skidan, Michiko Tsuda, and Kirill Makarov.
The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) has launched a long-term exhibition titled 'Guests of Honor,' featuring significant loans of Jewish ceremonial objects from the Jewish Museum in New York. Running through January 2027, the display includes intricate items such as Torah crowns, pointers, menorahs, and spice boxes sourced from Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. The objects are integrated into various galleries, including the Arts of the Islamic World section, to highlight shared aesthetic motifs and historical connections between different cultures.
The Venice Art Biennale's official awards ceremony, scheduled for May 9, has been canceled after the entire five-member jury resigned days before the event. The jury had previously announced they would not consider countries whose leaders face International Criminal Court charges, directly impacting Russia and Israel. Instead of jury-selected prizes, visitors will vote throughout the Biennale's run, with "Visitor Lions" awarded on November 22. The event, running from May 9 to November 22, features 100 national participations, including seven first-time countries, and a posthumous main exhibition titled "In Minor Keys" curated by the late Koyo Kouoh, the first African woman to lead the show. Iran withdrew on May 4 amid Middle East tensions, while Russia's return to the Biennale in 2026 has sparked EU threats to cut funding.
The Anozero – Bienal de Coimbra in Portugal is presenting a significant number of works addressing conflict and displacement in the Middle East. The biennial, curated by John Zeppetelli and Hans Ibelings, features projects like Taysir Batniji's "Just in Case #2," a series of 250 photographs of keys belonging to displaced Palestinians, and Adam Broomberg and Rafael Gonzalez's "Anchor In The Landscape," documenting destroyed olive trees.
Christie’s successfully transitioned its Middle Eastern Modern & Contemporary Art evening auction from Dubai to London, achieving a total of £5.2 million ($6.8 million). The sale boasted high sell-through rates of 85% by lot and 88% by value, driven by bidders from 23 different countries. Significant highlights included world auction records for Iraqi artist Jewad Selim, whose painting "The Watermelon Seller" fetched over double its estimate, and Mahmoud Sabri, whose work "Grief" sold for more than ten times its high estimate.
Christie's London will host a live evening sale of Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art on November 9, 2023. The auction features 58 works from artists across the Middle East and North Africa, including contemporary figures like Ahmed Mater and Sultan bin Fahad, and modern masters such as Etel Adnan and Mahmoud Sabri. Key lots include Mater's 'From the Real to the Symbolic City' and Adnan's 'Untitled'.
The third edition of the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale has opened in Riyadh’s JAX District under the title 'In Interludes and Transitions.' Curated by Nora Razian and Sabih Ahmed, the exhibition features over 65 artists from 35 countries, focusing on themes of migration, oral storytelling, and the movement of ideas across borders. The show is housed in repurposed 1970s industrial warehouses with a scenography designed by Formafantasma that emphasizes intimacy despite the monumental scale of the venues.
Leighton House, a small museum in west London, is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2026 with a major year-long program of exhibitions and events. The centenary program includes a trio of winter exhibitions exploring the building's history and lost collections, a spring/summer exhibition dedicated to its iconic Arab Hall, and a concluding exhibition on the artist's studio featuring works by major artists.
A painting by Saudi artist Safeya Binzagr, 'Coffee Shop in Madina Road' (1968), sold for $2.06 million at Sotheby's Origins II auction in Diriyah, shattering its high estimate of $200,000. The sale set a new auction record for Binzagr and is the third-highest price ever achieved by an Arab artist at auction.
Sotheby’s is returning to Riyadh for the second edition of its Origins sale, titled Origins II, with a live auction scheduled for 31 January. The sale will feature over 70 lots spanning Modern and Contemporary Art, Ancient Sculpture, and 20th-Century Design, including works by Saudi pioneer Safeya Binzagr, Iraqi artist Mahmoud Sabri, and Pablo Picasso. The auction coincides with the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale and the debut of Art Basel Doha, and will be preceded by a public exhibition at Diriyah’s Bujairi Terrace from 24 to 31 January.
Sotheby’s will hold its second auction in Saudi Arabia next month, featuring works by Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, and Safeya Binzagr, the late artist regarded as the spiritual mother of contemporary Saudi art. The auction, scheduled for January, follows Sotheby’s debut in the kingdom in February, which generated $17.28 million from fine art, designer items, and memorabilia. Unlike the first sale, this auction will focus exclusively on art, responding to stronger demand for Saudi works. Binzagr’s painting *Coffee Shop in Madina Road* (1968) will be a highlight.
Sotheby's will hold its second auction in Saudi Arabia, Origins II, on January 31 in Diriyah, featuring works by Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Anish Kapoor, and Middle Eastern artists including Safeya Binzagr and Mohammed Al Saleem. The sale spans categories from ancient sculpture to contemporary South Asian art, with highlights including Picasso's 'Paysage' (1965, est. $2-3 million) and Binzagr's 'Coffee Shop in Madina Road' (1968, est. $150,000-200,000).
Christie’s is highlighting several Arab artists in its upcoming Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art sale, scheduled for November 6 in London with an online preview from October 28 to November 11. Featured works include Paul Guiragossian’s 'Automne,' a masterpiece from the 1980s that previously achieved the second-highest auction price for the artist; Abdulhalim Radwi’s 'Untitled,' a semi-abstract cityscape blending traditional architecture and modernist influences; Samia Halaby’s 'Gardenia' from her 'Diagonal Flight' series; Kamal Boullata’s 'Nocturne I,' exploring geometric abstraction and exile; Mahmoud Said’s 'Mekarzel Hill,' a landscape once owned by a former Egyptian prime minister; and Laila Shawa’s 'City of Peace (Jerusalem),' a socio-political commentary on Palestinian life under occupation.
Sotheby’s London is hosting an exhibition previewing highlights from its upcoming Modern & Contemporary Middle East and Arts of the Islamic World & India auctions. Featured works include Abdulhalim Radwi’s 'Untitled (Desert Scene)' (1975), a mix of oil and sand on canvas estimated at £40,000–£60,000; Ahmed Mater’s 'X-ray Painting 5' from his pioneering series blending medicine and art; Paul Guiragossian’s 'Portefaix en Chomage,' depicting unemployed porters; and Fahrelnissa Zeid’s 'Untitled (Flowers)' from the late 1940s, bridging figurative and abstract styles.
Christie’s has opened an online auction of Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art, running through May 8th and featuring 69 works from across the Gulf, Levant, North Africa, Iraq, and Iran. The sale is led by pioneering artist Samia Halaby’s 2013 painting 'Water Lilies', estimated at $100,000–$150,000, and includes a dedicated 'Saudi Now!' section with 12 pieces by Saudi artists such as Ahmed Mater and Manal AlDowayan. Over a third of the lots are by women artists, including Etel Adnan, Helen Khal, Huguette Caland, Tala Madani, and Tagreed Darghouth, alongside North African figures like Mohamed Melehi and Hassan Hajjaj.
Since February 28, 2026, US-Israeli strikes on Iran have escalated into a major military confrontation across the Middle East, causing heavy casualties and infrastructure damage. Multiple UNESCO World Heritage sites have been hit, including Tehran's Golestan Palace (damaged on March 2), Isfahan's Chehel Sotoun palace and Naqsh-e Jahan Square (attacked March 9), and Tel Aviv's White City Bauhaus architecture, which suffered severe damage from Iranian counterattacks.
Several major cultural institutions in Beirut have suspended public operations due to escalating regional conflict. The Ramzi and Saeda Dalloul Art Foundation, Sursock Museum, Dar El-Nimer for Arts & Culture, and Beirut Art Center have all paused programs following Israeli airstrikes on Beirut's southern suburbs and southern Lebanon, which were a response to rocket attacks by Hezbollah.
Art Dubai has postponed its 2026 fair from April to May 14–17, shifting to an "adapted format" at its usual venue, the Madinat Jumeirah resort. The fair, a cornerstone of the Middle Eastern art scene, will proceed with a more focused model, featuring galleries from over thirty-five countries but altering its financial structure, with participating galleries paying a percentage of sales instead of standard booth fees.