Christie's staged its first dedicated fine-art auction in Abu Dhabi on 1 November, and the evening sale, titled MAWASIM: 20 Years of Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art, realised US$8,940,800. Held at The Abu Dhabi EDITION, the sale marked twenty years since the house held its first auction in the United Arab Emirates, in Dubai in 2006. The total was the highest Christie's has achieved for a Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art evening sale in more than a decade, across seventy works spanning nine decades of art from the Middle East and North Africa.

The night's leading lot was Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian's Variations on the Hexagon, made in 2006, which sold for US$844,800 after almost seven minutes of competitive bidding, far above its US$150,000-250,000 estimate. Fahrelnissa Zeid's Composition of 1948-1949 reached US$524,800, while Faisel Laibi Sahi's Baghdad Cafe (The Coffee Shop) from 2016 and Ali Banisadr's Homo Deus of 2018 each made US$512,000. Paul Guiragossian's Noces (Wedding) of 1958-1959 sold for US$486,400.

Nine artist records were set during the evening, for Jellal Ben Abdallah, Paul Guiragossian, Faisel Laibi Sahi, Juliana Seraphim, Nabil Kanso, Samia Halaby, Rami Farook, Fatma Lootah and Afra Al Dhaheri. Several of those artists were appearing at auction for the first time. Important consignments came from the Dalloul Collection in Beirut and the Barjeel Art Foundation in Sharjah, two collections that have done much to shape how modern and contemporary Arab art is understood.

The room also pointed to a changing buyer base. More than 30% of those who registered were Millennial or Gen Z collectors, and 37% were bidding with Christie's for the first time. The house's regional leadership described the response as hugely rewarding and a milestone in its two-decade history in the Emirates, with the sale presented in partnership with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office and supported by Kering, The Abu Dhabi EDITION and DIETL.