This year Christie is celebrating 11th anniversary in Dubai, which reflects how young the market is in the Middle East
Since then the market has grown exponentially. This upturn has been fuelled by a growing appreciation and understanding of Middle Eastern artists and their markets.
The most common focus is on the adaptation of traditional motifs and ideas. Many Middle Eastern artists also grapple with notions of identity, as well as with the cultural and political events that change the way people think and live.
There is also a new appreciation for female artists — previously overlooked in what has traditionally been a male-dominated world.
Traditionally, the key centres for Modern art have been Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Lebanon and Syria. Mahmoud Saïd (1897-1964) is renowned as the father of Modern painting in Egypt.
His oil paintings employ Western techniques to depict scenes of contemporary life that reference the country’s long history. The son of an Egyptian prime minister, he left a career in law to study painting in Florence.