A painting by Saudi artist Safeya Binzagr set a new auction record on Saturday after it sold for $2.1 million at Sotheby’s “Origins II” auction in Riyadh. The work ‘Coffee Shop in Madina Road’ (1968) sold for $1.65 million, exceeding a work by Pablo Picasso that sold for $1.6 million.
It also ranked as the third-highest price achieved for an Arab artist at the auction held in Saudi Arabia, which comprised 62 modern and contemporary lots and brought together Saudi artists alongside
regional and international names.
Ashkan Baghestani, Sotheby’s head of contemporary art for the Middle East, told Arab News at the auction that Safeya made more than any other artist tonight, which is incredible. “The results tonight show exactly what we’re trying to do here. Bring international collectors to Saudi Arabia and give them exposure to Saudi artists, especially the pioneers,” he added.
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Who is Safeya Binzagr?
Binzagr is dubbed the “spiritual mother of contemporary Saudi art”. Born in 1940, Binzagr took up art when the cultural infrastructure in the kingdom was ailing. Education in Cairo and then at St Martin’s School of Art in London, Binzagr returned to her homeland in 1968, holding her first exhibition, which was categorised as one of the first art shows by women in the country.
Interestingly, Binzagr herself was absent during her art expo as woomen were prohibited from appearing at public events. “I was not there physically, but I was there in spirit,” Binzagr would later say.
In 1995, she opened the Darat Safeya Binzagr, the first cultural centre in Saudi Arabia, fighting the gender restrictions of the Saudi society and earning a space for women in the country’s art scene.