Leading auction houses are opening offices in the Gulf countries and organize bidding works of Arab and Iranian artists

Seven years ago, after the terrorist attacks of 11 September and no one could not assume that the contemporary art of the Middle East will be popular. Nevertheless, now artists Iran and the Arab countries bring millions to the world's leading auction. And buy them not only Qatari sheikhs, but also western collectors like Charles Saatchi (Charles Saatchi). According to the site ArtTactic, publishes information on the emerging markets of Art, the Middle East works of art at public auction increased from 1 million pounds in 2006 to 17 million in 2008. And that figure could still grow at two times by the end of this year. For two years, the average price of works by artists from the Middle East has grown as much as 260 percent.

boom began with the first Christie's auction in Dubai in March 2006. Since then, the auction house is often satisfied in the Emirates auction, which sold not only the works of authors of the Middle East, but also the work of the giants of Western art such as Andy Warhol (Andy Warhol). At the recent Christie's auction in Dubai, held in April, three artists from the Middle East have brought the amount in excess of 1 million dollars. The most expensive work was the monumental bronze sculpture by Iranian Parviz Tanavoli (Parviz Tanavoli), pushed for 2.84 million. October 30 in Dubai will be the largest at this time Christie's auction in the Middle East, which will be presented by the artists from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon. Egypt, Algeria and United Arab Emirates, as well as works by Western stars, including Andy Warhol and Christo & Zhann-Claude (Christo & Jeanne-Claude).

Bonhams also contributed to the current prosperity of the Middle East art. In March of this auction house held a large auction in Dubai. The results surpassed estimeyt tripled. Top lot was the work of the modern Iranian artist Farhad Moshiri (Farhad Moshiri), which called the Iranian reply Koons (Jeff Koons) and Hurst (Damien Hirst) . His picture Eshgh ( «love» Farsi) yielded 1.05 million dollars. The next auction at Bonhams Dubai will be held November 24.

Sotheby's is also not lagging behind. October 23 in London will be the first in the history of the auction house auction, which will be presented exclusively works by contemporary artists from the Middle East. Recently, Sotheby's announced the opening of offices in the capital, Doha, Qatar . The works, which will be presented at the October auction, can be seen in the pre-show in Doha, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Representation in the Middle East (Dubai), opened, and Phillips de Pury, recently, by the way, bought Russian retailers Mercury Group . At the auction on 18 October, which will be held in London during the Frieze in Art Fair Frieze , will be presented to the work of Arab and Iranian artists. A day later, on 19 October, the works of Farhad Moshiri and Zenderudi Hossein (Hossein Zenderoudi) appear on the bidding works Contemporary Art Christie's , along with them will be sold to the outstanding paintings of Francis Bacon (Francis Bacon), Lusiena Freud (Lucian Freud) and Luchio Fountains (Lucio Fontana).

Experts called several reasons for interest in the art market to the works of artists from the Islamic world. The most obvious of them - economic development based on high oil prices. In addition, after September 11, interest in Islamic culture greatly increased. Creative artists of the Middle East involves a very important and interesting topics such as war, opposition to the Western and Islamic cultures, issues of identity and status of women in Islamic society. Contemporary Arab and Iranian art support local sheikhs, who are spending millions at auctions and art fairs, as well as open in their own countries the major museums.

Material prepared Yulia Maksimova

Sources: online.wsj.com , telegraph.co.uk , artinvestment.ru