{"id":403394,"date":"2025-09-06T19:25:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T19:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/403394\/"},"modified":"2025-09-06T19:25:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T19:25:12","slug":"is-the-persian-gulf-art-boom-an-autocrat-created-mirage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/403394\/","title":{"rendered":"Is the Persian Gulf Art Boom an Autocrat-Created Mirage?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>While art markets in Europe and the United States sputter, a very different story is unfolding on the shores of the Persian Gulf. Dealers, gallerists, and auctioneers speak with something close to awe about the energy coursing through Doha, Dubai, and Riyadh.<\/p>\n<p>Sotheby\u2019s recent expansion into Saudi Arabia and its upcoming auction week in Abu Dhabi, in December, combined with Art Basel\u2019s announcement of a new fair to be held in Qatar in 2026, has led to talk that this is the next foreign oasis\u2014following Russia, Hong Kong, and India\u2014to save the market from one of its perennial downturns. Noah Horowitz, Art Basel\u2019s C.E.O., describes the region to me as a \u201chyperconnected, multi-hyphenate global mechanism,\u201d which can loosely be translated as \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of money sloshing around.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>      <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" class=\"img-small\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/air-mail.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>      Enter your e-mail to read the full story for free<br \/>and to receive our weekly e-mail newsletter<\/p>\n<p>Or, <a href=\"https:\/\/airmail.news\/subscribe\/promo-AMLD5025\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>subscribe<\/strong><\/a> to AIR MAIL and get access to our entire archive. 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Start your free trial today.\n  <\/p>\n<p class=\"mt-5 mb-0 article-card-text text-center\" data-paywall-capture-target=\"existing\">\n    Already a subscriber? <a href=\"https:\/\/airmail.news\/subscription\/sign-in?from=AmhpPM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sign in here<\/a>\n  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While art markets in Europe and the United States sputter, a very different story is unfolding on the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403395,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3939],"tags":[11794,139047,139048,139049,139050,78732,139051,4021,4020,2257,80073,139052,75356,4022,84479,2721,77,32533,31759,139053,139054,139055,139056,139057,89655,34833,139058,139059,6544,139060,6860,12359,139061,139062,139063,139064,55356,139065,6506,139066,139067,139068,33967,139069,139070,139071,2722,16,15,139072,139073,139074,139075],"class_list":{"0":"post-403394","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-abu-dhabi","9":"tag-abu-dhabi-art-fair","10":"tag-abu-dhabi-cultural-foundation","11":"tag-abu-dhabis-saadiyat-island","12":"tag-alserkal-avenue","13":"tag-art-basel","14":"tag-artnews","15":"tag-arts","16":"tag-arts-and-design","17":"tag-bitcoin","18":"tag-centre-pompidou","19":"tag-charles-pocock","20":"tag-crown-prince-mohammed-bin-salman","21":"tag-design","22":"tag-doha","23":"tag-dubai","24":"tag-entertainment","25":"tag-frank-gehry","26":"tag-gagosian","27":"tag-georgina-adam","28":"tag-guggenheim","29":"tag-guggenheim-abu-dhabi","30":"tag-herms","31":"tag-house-of-nahyan","32":"tag-leonardo-da-vinci","33":"tag-louvre","34":"tag-meem-gallery","35":"tag-noah-horowitz","36":"tag-paris-saint-germain","37":"tag-patrick-drahi","38":"tag-qatar","39":"tag-qatar-museums","40":"tag-qatar-sports-investments","41":"tag-qc","42":"tag-reem-fadda","43":"tag-richard-mille","44":"tag-riyadh","45":"tag-salvator-mundi","46":"tag-saudi-arabia","47":"tag-saudi-vision-2030","48":"tag-sheikha-al-mayassa","49":"tag-smithsonian","50":"tag-sothebys","51":"tag-sultan-sooud-al-qassemi","52":"tag-the-art-newspaper","53":"tag-the-line","54":"tag-uae","55":"tag-uk","56":"tag-united-kingdom","57":"tag-vilma-jurkute","58":"tag-white-cube","59":"tag-william-lawrie","60":"tag-world-padel-tour"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}