Arabian Gulf

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman — countries whose contemporary art scenes are among the youngest, fastest-growing, and most heavily institutionally invested in the world. With the founding of the Sharjah Biennial (1993), Art Dubai (2007), Mathaf in Doha (2010), and the Saudi-led Diriyah Biennale (2021), the Gulf has built more new museums, fairs, and biennials in twenty years than most of the rest of the Arab world combined. Saudi artist Manal AlDowayan, Emirati Mohammed Kazem, and Kuwaiti Monira Al Qadiri are among the contemporary Gulf names now collected globally. The Artsamy Gulf collection includes both these contemporary voices and the earlier generation of regional modernists who paved the way.