Sotheby's will stage its first art auction in Abu Dhabi on December 10, 2026, under the title Breaking Ground. The sale forms part of the house's second Collectors' Week in the emirate, with six auctions spanning fine art, jewellery, watches, handbags, cars and bicycles scheduled for December 9 and 10 at the Saadiyat Grove Experience Centre on Saadiyat Island.

The move follows a luxury-only debut last year, when a four-day series of jewellery, handbag and car sales brought in $133.4 million without a single work of art on offer. Art featured through talks, masterclasses and an exhibition display, and the timing now places the auction between the first Frieze Abu Dhabi fair in November and the opening of Guggenheim Abu Dhabi on December 11.

The leading lots mix established Western names with regional artists. Andy Warhol's Ads, a 1985 portfolio of ten screenprints based on American advertisements, carries a high estimate of $3 million. Claude Monet's Prunes et Abricots, painted around 1882 to 1885, is estimated up to $2.6 million, after last changing hands at Sotheby's London in 2022 for £1.4 million. A Fernando Botero bronze is estimated up to $550,000, while a Christo drawing for a monumental barrel sculpture planned for Abu Dhabi is guided at $180,000 to $250,000.

Regional representation is deliberately prominent, though priced more modestly. The sale includes a drawing by Emirati conceptual artist Hassan Sharif with an upper estimate of $40,000, an oil by Lebanese painter Huguette Caland estimated at $120,000, a folded booklet by Etel Adnan guided at $50,000 to $70,000, and Paul Guiragossian's Varte (Rose) from 1986, estimated at $120,000 to $180,000. Sotheby's says it aimed to keep prices accessible while pairing names collectors already know with artists they may be meeting for the first time.

Sotheby's cites rapid Gulf growth: bidding from the region has risen nearly 70 percent over five years, with spending almost doubling, and last year close to half of its Middle East bidders were new to the house. Consignments are still being accepted, so no overall sale estimate has been published yet.