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.
This move to London represents a strategic effort to internationalize the market for Middle Eastern art, leveraging a global sales hub to attract a broader collector base. By setting multiple artist records and seeing increased online participation, Christie’s has demonstrated that the appetite for regional Modernism is expanding beyond the Gulf. The success of this "double strength platform"—utilizing both London and Dubai—signals a maturing market and growing institutional and private appreciation for artists from Iraq, Egypt, Lebanon, and Iran.