Christie's is presenting an online sale titled "Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art: Online" from June 2–16, 2026, in London. The auction features 62 lots by leading modern and contemporary artists from the Gulf, the Levant, Iraq, Iran, and North Africa, including works by Samia Halaby, Saliba Douaihy, Baya, Parviz Tanavoli, Mohamed Melehi, and Abdul Halim Radwi. The sale marks 20 years since Christie's inaugural Middle Eastern art auction in the UAE in 2006.
This sale underscores the growing global recognition and market depth for Middle Eastern and North African modern and contemporary art. By highlighting artists who bridge early modernist movements in Cairo and Baghdad with contemporary experimentation in Beirut and Doha, the auction reflects the category's expanding international resonance and institutional validation, as seen with Baya's forthcoming Tate Modern retrospective and Samia Halaby's exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.