Modern & Contemporary Middle Eastern Art

Christie’s has displayed a long-standing commitment to the Middle East. We were the first to build a strong presence in the region when we opened our Dubai headquarters in 2005 and held our inaugural Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art auction in 2006.

Our biannual live and online sales taking place in either London or Dubai and our programme of groundbreaking loan and private selling exhibitions internationally offer exceptional works by Arab, Turkish and Iranian artists and highlight Christie’s continuous efforts to bring Middle Eastern Art at the forefront of the global stage.

As a global market leader for Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art, our sales achieve exceptional results with strong sell-through rates for our clients and record prices for artists. With our international reach, our auctions draw bidders from more than 15 countries, showing a growing global appreciation for the category.

Our dedicated team of specialists are based between Dubai and London. Please do not hesitate to get in touch.
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Upcoming auctions

No upcoming Modern & Contemporary Middle Eastern Art auctions

Our specialists are currently preparing our next Modern & Contemporary Middle Eastern Art auctions. In the meantime, browse results from past auctions.

View Past Auctions

Contact us

  • Dr. Ridha Moumni

    Dr. Ridha Moumni

    Chairman, Middle East & Africa

    Dubai

    Dr. Ridha Moumni is a historian of Art and Archaeology, specialising in antiquity and the early and modern art of Tunisia. He holds a PhD in North African Roman Architecture from La Sorbonne University. Former fellow of the French Academy in Rome (Villa Medici), Dr. Moumni was from 2019 to 2021 an Aga Khan Fellow at the Department of Art History at Harvard University and conducted research at Harvard's Center of Middle Eastern Studies. Dr. Moumni joined Christie's in 2021 as a Senior Client Advisor, focusing on the Middle East, before moving into his current role as Chairman of the Middle East and Africa. He has extensive experience in leading cultural projects and curating exhibitions of Middle Eastern art.
  • Meagan Kelly Horsman

    Meagan Kelly Horsman

    Managing Director Middle East

    Dubai

    Meagan Kelly Horsman is the Managing Director of Christies Middle East, having joined the team in May 2022. Based in the UAE since 2010, Meagan has worked in both the primary and secondary market, starting her career at Bonhams, and specialises in modern and contemporary art from the Arab World, North Africa and Iran. Meagan’s extensive experience also includes collection management and development for some of the most important private collections in the region. Meagan has curated numerous exhibitions at institutions across the UAE, delivered short courses relating to the art sector and written for arts publications in the region. Meagan holds a MA in History of Art from the University of Glasgow, Scotland.
  • Suzy Sikorski

    Suzy Sikorski

    Specialist Business Getter

    Dubai

    Suzy Sikorski is a Specialist Business Getter in Post-War Contemporary Art, based out of Dubai, and dedicated to building auctions, private selling exhibitions and valuations in the region and abroad that has historically recognised Christie’s as one of the global market leaders for modern and contemporary works from the Arab and Iranian world. With a niche expertise in Middle Eastern Modern & Contemporary Art, she continues to develop key consignments in international and private sales as part of an evolving strategy as reflective of the Middle East region’s international appetite across private and institutional buyers.

    Originally from New York, Suzy is a Fulbright Scholar (2016-2017), with a research focus on modern Gulf Art History after completing a Bachelor’s Degree at Fordham University, with a major in Middle East Studies and minors in Art History and French.

    Suzy speaks French and intermediate Arabic, travelling extensively throughout the Middle East region, with nearly a decade of residing in Dubai since studying abroad as an exchange student at American University of Sharjah, and separately at L'université Paris-Sorbonne.

    Suzy’s extensive work across commercial and curatorial sectors is also demonstrated through her active interactive and informative programming, as found across social media: her art storytelling platform Mid East Art, in podcasts, lectures, and published essays along with collaborations at embassies and cultural foundations within the region and abroad.
  • Marie-Claire Thijsen

    Marie-Claire Thijsen

    Head of Sale, Associate Specialist

    Dubai, London

    Marie-Claire is a specialist in the Post-War & Contemporary Art department at Christie’s based between London and Dubai. She is passionate about discovering and promoting emerging and overlooked artists with a particular interest in artists from the Middle East and North Africa. In her role as Head of Sale for Modern & Contemporary Middle Eastern Art, she has contributed to the growth of the category and has helped to give it a contemporary and international profile through successful auctions and private selling exhibitions in London, Dubai and Paris.

    Marie-Claire grew up in the Netherlands and speaks fluent Dutch and English, conversational French, and is learning Arabic. Marie-Claire attended Amsterdam University College and holds a BA with a double major in International Relations and Economics and a minor in Art History. She moved to London to complete a MA in Art Business and joined Christie’s in 2015. In the Post-War & Contemporary Department in London she has been working across the Evening, Day and Online sales, gaining a breadth of knowledge of the art market and playing a pivotal role in the consignment and successful sale of various single owner collections including the Jeremy Lancaster Collection, the Le Jeune Collection and most recently the Dalloul Art Collection.

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