Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Sale in Doha Achieves $15 M., Record for Region

(Courtesy Sotheby’s, via ArtDaily)

A sale at Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Doha last night achieved a total of $15,199,750, the highest price ever for an auction of contemporary art in the Middle East.

The top lot was Donald Judd’s Untitled (Bernstein 90-01), which sold for just over $3.5 million. Other works included Julie Mehretu’s Rising Down, which sold for $3 million, and Icons of the Nile by Chant Avedissian, which set a record for a living Arab artist at $1.56 million.

ArtDaily quotes Robin Woodhead, chairman of Sotheby’s International, as saying, “Tonight’s sale in Doha demonstrates unequivocally Qatar’s central role as a cultural hub of the entire MENA Region. Sotheby’s ability to attract bidding from collectors from 15 countries across four continents here this evening affirms the growing importance of Qatar in the international art world.”