Saudi Arabia looks to its Modern art history as the art world eyes up the Gulf

Saudi Arabia is spotlighting its Modern art history with museum exhibitions and auctions as international attention shifts toward the Gulf ahead of Art Basel’s inaugural fair in Qatar and Frieze’s planned Abu Dhabi edition later in 2026. The National Museum of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh is presenting “Beginnings of Saudi Art Movement” (through 11 April 2026), featuring more than 250 works and archival materials by 73 artists, focusing on the 1960s–1980s. The show highlights pioneers including Mounirah Mosly (born 1943) and Safeya Binzagr (born 1940), who held a landmark public exhibition by female artists in Jeddah in 1968; Mosly later became the first Saudi woman to mount solo exhibitions in Jeddah (1972) and Riyadh (1973). Reem Yassin of the Visual Arts Commission said the project aims to document artists’ histories, with a catalogue and documentary planned and materials being recorded in the Saudi National Archives.

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