Sotheby’s Adds Fine Art to Abu Dhabi Collectors’ Week

A year after auctioning watches, handbags and cars in its inaugural Collectors’ Week in Abu Dhabi, Sotheby’s will return to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for its first-ever fine art sale in the country.

Titled Breaking Ground, the sale will take place on 10 December, and will include works by Claude Monet and Andy Warhol, alongside figures from the Middle Eastern art world who have helped to shape the UAE’s contemporary art scene.

Yasmeen Gailani, Sotheby’s specialist and head of sale for Breaking Ground, said that while the sale is anchored by international household names and globally recognised Emirati artists, the auction house “also wanted to introduce names that may not be as familiar, but we felt would resonate with art lovers here”. He noted a particular focus on women artists, some of whom are making their auction debuts.

Last year’s Collectors’ Week generated $133.4 million across luxury goods and property sales. This year’s auction adds to a growing art world focus in the emirate, falling less than three weeks after the inaugural Frieze Abu Dhabi, and a day before Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is scheduled to open.

Among the highlights announced so far are Claude Monet’s still life Prunes et abricots (1882–85), estimated at $2 million–$2.6 million, and Andy Warhol’s Ads (1985), a portfolio of ten screenprints reworking advertisements and logos, at $2 million–$3 million.

The sale also includes paintings by Hassan Sharif and Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim, both pioneers of contemporary art in the UAE. Ibrahim’s solo exhibition Two Clouds in the Night Sky, recently shown at Abu Dhabi’s Cultural Foundation, explored his practice’s roots in the landscape of his native Khor Fakkan.

Sharif, Najat Makki, and Nujoom Alghanem, who will make her auction debut, all featured in Observers of Change: Art from the UAE (1971–2025), a survey at Dubai’s Etihad Museum drawing on the Barjeel Art Foundation collection. Other women artists will include Huguette Caland, Jadé Fadojutimi, Inji Efflatoun, Fahrelnissa Zeid, Mona Saudi, Gazbia Sirry, Zarina and Etel Adnan.

The auction will follow Frieze Abu Dhabi’s inaugural edition, running from 19 to 22 November at Manarat Al Saadiyat. Succeeding Abu Dhabi Art and organised with the city’s Department of Culture and Tourism, the fair brings together 84 galleries from 37 countries and regions. 

Frieze Masters Abu Dhabi will explore historical exchanges across the Indian Ocean, while Global Futures will present solo projects with connections to the region.

Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is scheduled to open on 11 December, the day after the auction. Designed by Frank Gehry, the museum will present art from the 1960s onwards, joining Louvre Abu Dhabi and Zayed National Museum on Saadiyat Island.

These additions come in a year when the US–Israeli war with Iran has disrupted the Gulf’s art calendar. Earlier this year, Art Dubai postponed its 2026 edition by a month and eventually held a scaled-down fair.