Saudi woman painter outshines Picasso at Sotheby’s second sale in Diriyah

At Sotheby’s “Origins II” auction in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, held on 31 January 2026, Saudi painter Safeya Binzagr set a $2.1 million record when her 1968 work Coffee Shop in Madina Road sold, outperforming some major Western names in the sale. The auction offered 67 lots of fine art and achieved an 89% sell-through rate, with a $15.4 million hammer total ($19.5 million with fees), near the pre-sale high estimate of $16.6 million. By comparison, Sotheby’s first Saudi auction in 2025 totaled $14.4 million hammer ($17.2 million with fees) from 140 lots and had a 67% sell-through rate. Three lots were passed—including Refik Anadol’s generative video work linked to an NFT (estimated $350,000–$450,000)—and four were withdrawn before the sale, including works estimated up to $1.2 million.

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