{"id":70337,"date":"2026-05-22T12:44:50","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T12:44:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/70337\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T12:44:50","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T12:44:50","slug":"royals-passing-notes-and-back-room-deals-inside-sales-at-art-basel-qatar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/70337\/","title":{"rendered":"Royals Passing Notes and Back Room Deals: Inside Sales at Art Basel Qatar"},"content":{"rendered":"

A\u00a0version of this article originally appeared in\u00a0The Back Room,\u00a0our lively recap funneling only the week\u2019s must-know art industry intel into a nimble read you\u2019ll actually enjoy.\u00a0Artnet News Pro members get exclusive access\u2014subscribe now<\/a>\u00a0to receive the newsletter in your inbox every Friday.<\/p>\n

The first edition of Art Basel Qatar was very different from other editions of the esteemed Swiss fair,\u00a0both for its\u00a0booth-less, single-artist presentations\u00a0and\u00a0for\u00a0the\u00a0pace of sales. Many dealers\u00a0said that their priority for the debut was making new connections, but\u00a0what\u2019s\u00a0an art fair without sales?<\/p>\n

Rest assured, some deals were confirmed during the first two VIP days, on Tuesday and Wednesday, though they took a while. \u201cI\u2019m really happy with this fair,\u201d said London dealer Niru Ratnam, who placed Kutlug Ataman\u2018s 22-screen video installation\u00a0 Mesopotamian Dramaturgies \/ The Stream\u00a0(2022) with an institution on Wednesday for\u00a0$250,000.<\/p>\n

Hauser and Wirth,\u00a0which\u00a0offered\u00a0some of the\u00a0fair\u2019s\u00a0most expensive works\u00a0(three paintings by\u00a0Philip\u00a0Guston\u00a0priced from\u00a0$9.5 million\u00a0to $14 million,\u00a0confirmed at least one hold on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

Sales looked a little different for a few reasons.<\/p>\n

1. The Royal Factor<\/p>\n

Up to this point, the Gulf has been known for a few big (mostly royal) collectors, like Qatar\u2019s\u00a0ruling family, the\u00a0Al Thanis, who have been filling ambitious state-led museums for the last two decades. The inimitable art impresario\u00a0Sheikha Al-Mayassa\u00a0bint\u00a0Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani,\u00a0chairperson of\u00a0Qatar Museums (QM), was extremely visible during the fair\u2019s VIP days. (QC+, the commercial arm of QM, was a partner of the fair.)<\/p>\n

Exhibitors reported receiving white slips of paper if QM was interested in acquiring a work.\u00a0Formal acquisitions have yet to be announced, but many works will be added to the collection of its contemporary-focused\u00a0Art Mill Museum,\u00a0which is due to open in 2030. Some surmised that regional buyers may have been waiting to make offers until the Sheikha had made her selections, out of deference.<\/p>\n

Other institutions\u00a0were\u00a0buying, too.\u00a0An Asian museum\u00a0picked up a\u00a0$50,000\u00a0edition of an\u00a0Imran Qureshi\u00a0weaving installation,\u00a0brought by\u00a0Indian gallery\u00a0Nature Morte.\u00a0Mendes Wood DM\u00a0sold two paintings by\u00a0Solange Pessoa, one to a\u00a0U.S. museum\u00a0and the other to a Dubai-based foundation.<\/p>\n

2. The Discretion Factor<\/p>\n

Dealers were limited to displaying one artist\u00a0on\u00a0their stands, but in their\u00a0private viewing rooms, they could present\u00a0whatever\u00a0they wanted.\u00a0That included a\u00a0Pablo Picasso\u00a0painting, priced around\u00a0$42 million,\u00a0and a rare\u00a0Henri Rousseau\u00a0at\u00a0Acquavella\u00a0and a\u00a0Yayoi Kusama\u00a0pumpkin\u00a0sculpture\u00a0at\u00a0Victoria Miro.\u00a0Sales in these rooms\u00a0weren\u2019t\u00a0reported.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Aiza Ahmed at Sargent\u2019s Daughters, Art Basel Qatar 2026. Courtesy of Art Basel.<\/p>\n

Gurr Johns\u00a0advisor\u00a0Diane Abela\u00a0said that the collecting culture in the Middle East is very \u201cmindful\u201d and that many clients prefer to transact discreetly. One collector told me that they had only come to the fair to see two works in private rooms.<\/p>\n

3. The Regional Factor<\/p>\n

Basel fairs are usually known for their\u00a0high-priced blue-chip sales, but\u00a0lower-priced works by\u00a0regional artists were front and\u00a0center\u00a0in Doha.\u00a0Thanks in part to curation from Egyptian artist\u00a0Wael Shawky\u2014the first recipient of Qatar\u2019s\u00a0new creative visa<\/a>\u2014more than half of the galleries showing this year are from the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia\u00a0region,\u00a0and many dealers brought works by artists from or with ties to the\u00a0Middle East. They fared well.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ahmed Mater at ATHR Gallery, Art Basel Qatar 2026. Courtesy of Art Basel.<\/p>\n

Saudi gallery\u00a0ATHR\u00a0sold nine works by the well-known doctor-turned-artist\u00a0Ahmed Mater\u00a0that were priced between $45,000\u00a0and\u00a0$220,000. Almine Rech\u00a0said\u00a0it sold\u00a0the majority of\u00a0its works by\u00a0Lebanese artist and filmmaker\u00a0Ali Cherri, including watercolors for\u00a0$35,000\u00a0each and new sculptures for up to\u00a0$153,000. Sargent\u2019s Daughters sold up-and-coming-artist Aiza Ahmed\u2018s largest painting to an institution, as well as various smaller works to other collectors, all priced between $3,500 and $25,000; Ahmed created the works while in residence at Doha\u2019s QM-run Fire Station (also helmed by Shawky). Perrotin reported \u201cnumerous sales inquiries\u201d for Iran-born American artist Ali Banisadr\u2019s paintings, at around $600,000 apiece, and sculptures priced between $45,000 and $120,000.<\/p>\n

The regional heat continues:\u00a0Many advisors and collectors were headed\u00a0next\u00a0to\u00a0the\u00a0India Art Fair, which opened to VIPs Thursday and runs through Sunday.<\/p>\n

\"people<\/p>\n

A performance in Al Barahat Square. Courtesy of Art Basel Qatar.<\/p>\n

The Bottom Line<\/p>\n

Even if it\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0your typical art fair, Art Basel\u2019s Doha debut was as well polished as the\u00a0constantly\u00a0swept\u00a0tiles of\u00a0Al\u00a0Barahat\u00a0Square,\u00a0which connects\u00a0the two main exhibition venues. As with any new event, there were a few hiccups\u2014namely a sprawling seated dinner at the\u00a0Fire Station\u00a0on Wednesday night that had too few seats. (Veterans of\u00a0the\u00a0fair circuit\u00a0know\u00a0that seated dinners are the way madness lies.)<\/p>\n

After a few days on the ground, many in the art industry have questions about the future\u00a0of the\u00a0fair. For one:\u00a0Will\u00a0David Beckham\u00a0always be here? The footballer has been an ambassador for\u00a0Visit Qatar\u00a0since the 2022\u00a0FIFA World Cup\u2014a deal\u00a0reportedly worth<\/a>\u00a0more than\u00a0$150 million\u2014and\u00a0he\u00a0was at\u00a0nearly every\u00a0official\u00a0Art Basel\u00a0event.\u00a0He was also part of the fair\u2019s promotional campaign on social media and is rumored to get\u00a0around\u00a0$300,000\u00a0per\u00a0post.<\/p>\n

More pressingly: Will\u00a0relatively modest\u00a0sales\u00a0ultimately\u00a0be\u00a0worth the squeeze, especially if hotels, accommodation, and exhibitor expenses\u00a0aren\u2019t\u00a0as heavily underwritten by Qatari entities as they were this time around? And with\u00a0Art Dubai\u00a0in April and a new\u00a0Frieze Abu Dhabi\u00a0in November, can the Gulf region sustain so many fairs\u00a0every year?<\/p>\n

I think plenty of people will be back next year to find out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A\u00a0version of this article originally appeared in\u00a0The Back Room,\u00a0our lively recap funneling only the week\u2019s must-know art industry…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70338,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8],"tags":[37609,1377,266,1476,35166,35101,31363,27390,31362,77,11232,37608,1027,2696,35107,37607,35079,22651],"class_list":["post-70337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basel","tag-ahmed-mater","tag-art-basel","tag-art-basel-qatar","tag-art-fairs","tag-art-prices","tag-art-sales","tag-artnet-pro","tag-artnet-news","tag-artnet-news-pro","tag-basel","tag-contemporary-art","tag-david-beckham","tag-doha","tag-market","tag-picasso","tag-sheikha-al-mayassa","tag-the-back-room","tag-yayoi-kusama"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116618299152644438","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}