With its enormous wealth, the Middle East has long been viewed by the international art trade as a prime market for expansion.
Art Basel, the world’s largest organizer of commercial modern and contemporary art fairs, will be holding a new event in Qatar, in 2026. The fair is scheduled to take place in Doha in February, according to a statement on Tuesday from Art Basel, its Swiss-based parent company MCH Group, Qatar Sports Investments and a Qatar-based organization called QC+.
This latest Art Basel initiative will expand a portfolio of international events that already includes major fairs in Hong Kong, Miami Beach, Paris and Basel.
“It makes sense for Art Basel to come to our region. It’s the right time,” said Sheikha Al Mayassa Bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, in a phone interview on Tuesday. Sheikha Al Mayassa has overseen her country’s ambitious program of cultural projects since 2005.
“This gives Art Basel dealers an opportunity to meet new buyers,” she added. “Qatar has good contacts with Central Asia, India and Turkey. Africa is not so far away. It will give our local talent global visibility.”
International art dealers are looking to expand their reach after two years during which aggregate sales have fallen, according to two editions of the Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report, regarded as the most reliable indicator of the art market’s size and health. Geopolitical uncertainties and economic volatility saw sales decline 12 percent in 2024, according to the latest report.
With its enormous wealth, primarily based on its vast fossil fuel reserves, the Middle East has long been viewed by the international art trade as a prime market for expansion. Until now, Art Dubai has been the region’s most prominent art fair.
The first edition of Art Basel Qatar is scheduled to be held in Doha’s M7 creative hub and the city’s Design District, near the National Museum of Qatar. “The fair will launch as a tightly curated showcase featuring a select group of leading galleries and artists, designed to respond to today’s market while laying the foundation for growth,” according to the organizers’ statement, which did not give an estimate of the number of exhibiting dealers.
With four museums already opened and four more in the planning, Qatar already has a formidable infrastructure of arts institutions. “We have five or six commercial galleries, and we have a lot of private museums. It’s all part of our long-term vision for the diversification of our economy,” Sheikha Al Mayassa said.
Sport has also played a significant role in giving this small nation a global cultural reach, and in 2022, Qatar hosted the soccer World Cup.
“Growing the global art market, supporting artists and galleries and developing new collecting audiences is core to Art Basel’s mission,” Noah Horowitz, Art Basel’s chief executive, said in the statement. Horowitz added that the art scene in the Middle East and North Africa had “undergone exponential growth in recent decades, with the establishment of world-class institutions.”
Art Basel Qatar, Horowitz added, had the potential to “create new touchpoints for the broadest possible audiences.”