In Saudi Arabia, once considered a closed-off ultraconservative Islamic country, unprecedented resources are now being invested into cultural infrastructure. Among the principle aims of Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 reform agenda is the establishment of a thriving creative economy. From spectacular museum building to new biennales, public art festivals and blockbuster exhibitions, over the last few years the kingdom’s cultural scene has grown exponentially and is flourishing thanks to state-led initiatives and investments.

Yet amid the present moment of grandiose state patronage that has led to a renaissance of sorts across the kingdom, at times the role of private art institutions has been overlooked. Prior to the present massive government investment in culture, these institutions – independent players such as Edge of Arabia, Athr, Hafez Gallery, and Art Jameel – played a vital role in the development of the Saudi art scene during a time when the state was largely not present in Saudi cultural enterprise.

A Long History of Saudi Art

An art scene has long existed in Saudi Arabia. Its development has been influenced not only by the wider sociopolitical and historical realities of the Saudi state, especially the discovery of oil and changing role of traditional Islam, but also by geopolitics. Rather than a linear progression of an art scene that gathers strength, moving from early pioneers to dynamic rising stars and popular awareness, the trajectory of art history in Saudi Arabia instead mirrors the jolts of the Gulf state’s geopolitics and economics influenced by its oil wealth and rentier-state mentality.

Several private actors, including artists, patrons, curators, and art dealers, went against the grain to establish the seeds nearly two decades ago for the breakneck cultural production present today.

After two decades of intense religious conservatism and closure to the outside world following the 1979 siege of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, a flowering of artistic activity was born in the early 2000s. One important game changer was the introduction of the internet in 1999. Saudi artists, most of whom were self-taught, could now search the web and educate themselves on the art world taking place outside of the kingdom.

Shatta: Breaking From Western Modern Art

In 2001, the same year as 9/11, almost serendipitously, the formation of the artistic movement Shatta, which means to be broken up or dismantled in Arabic, was formed in Abha, a city in the southern Asir region, at the Al Muftaha Art Village. The movement was led by self-taught artists from the region: Abdulnasser Gharem, a former military officer in the Saudi army; Ahmed Mater, who had previously been a physician; Saudi-born Palestinian Ashraf Fayadh; Abdulkarim Qassim; and poet Muhammad Khidr. Just like its name, the members of this collective called for a deconstruction of modern Saudi art practice, which had its origins in Western modernism, and the creation of something new from the remnants of what had come before. Due to the lack of art materials available at the time, this group of Saudi artists turned to found objects and created works that were largely conceptual in style – a style that nearly all of them have continued to work in today.

Geopolitical events, such as 9/11 and the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, fostered a new hostility toward Saudis from the West, which influenced these Saudi artists. “We didn’t know what to do and so we turned to art,” said Gharem.

The artists of Shatta wished to establish a collective approach to creating art that could be at once collaborative, disruptive, and transformative. They also wanted to examine ideas of what art could be in Saudi Arabia and to do so in a different style to that adopted by artists in Al Muftaha Art Village, who had been taught by visiting art professors from Palestine and Sudan and emulated a Western modern approach to art creation. “We wanted to make a break from Western modern art concepts and do something different, something new,” explained Ashraf Fayadh. “Those concepts didn’t represent us culturally. We needed to develop our style that comes from the depth of our culture and our society, one that mirrored our life, which is different from that lived in Europe.” In many ways Shatta foretold a new period of privately led Saudi art initiatives that would establish the scene and set it in motion.

Edge of Arabia: A Bridge Between Saudi Artists and the International Community

In 2003, on the eve of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, a chance encounter at the Al Muftaha Art Village among British cultural entrepreneur Stephen Stapleton, Gharem, and Mater led to the founding of the artist-led cultural organization Edge of Arabia, which defines itself as being set up to “encourage grassroots cultural dialogue in Saudi Arabia and between Saudi Arabia and the Western world.” Edge of Arabia became a beacon of light for the art scene in Saudi Arabia – a new way for artists to gain visibility abroad and a means of forging cross-cultural dialogue between the East and the West.

“When EOA first emerged, its role was to help foster the Saudi art scene,” explained Stapleton. “At the time there was nothing where people from outside Saudi could see what the artists were doing. Its role was really to start a bridge between artists from Saudi Arabia and the international community. At the time it had a big job in identifying artists and telling an initial story of a contemporary art scene that was radically different from what had come before.”

Stapleton emphasized that Edge of Arabia initially provided a “valuable way to challenge the homogenous view of the region.” It also forged a path for Saudi artists to move forward with their work and career. “Having exhibition after exhibition in cities like Berlin, Istanbul, and London, for example, gave the artists a reason to sort of keep going during a period in which there was a bit of a vacuum of exhibitions and projects taking place in Saudi,” he added. “Edge of Arabia was meant to shine a light on an art scene that was very marginal and very peripheral against the backdrop of a really challenging political context.”

Art Jameel: Supporting the Community

In 2003 other private initiatives came on the scene – many in the form of private patronage eager to encourage the growth of the Saudi art scene.

One was the Jameel family, among the Middle East’s most prominent and philanthropic art patrons. The family’s tradition of social entrepreneurship and community development stems from the late Sheik Abdul Latif Jameel who founded Abdul Latif Jameel, a family-owned diversified business, in 1945.

In 2003 Art Jameel was established by Fady Jameel, himself a collector and also the grandson of Abdul Latif Jameel, as part of Community Jameel, launched to continue the Jameel family’s tradition of supporting their community in Jeddah. Art Jameel supports similar communities around the Middle East, setting up art institutions, including artist residencies, art prizes, and art collecting, all of which support the growth of the region’s art scene.

As one of Saudi Arabia’s premier nongovernmental organizations dedicated to art and culture in the kingdom and throughout the Middle East, the vision of Art Jameel, which is funded primarily by the Jameel family (it receives no money from the Saudi state), is to document, nurture, and excavate cultural histories and the contemporary realities of the Arab world. Since its launch, it has established major cultural centers in Jeddah, Cairo, and Dubai. In 2021, it launched Hayy Jameel, a cultural center in Jeddah, which also includes an independent cinema.

“We exist independently, with thanks largely to Jameel family philanthropy, and work collaboratively with a range of partners, locally and globally,” said Antonia Carver, Art Jameel’s director. Carver emphasized how a principal aim of Art Jameel is to focus on supporting the kingdom’s younger, up-and-coming artists whose work is more interdisciplinary. “Our mandate in Saudi Arabia is to help broaden access to the arts and to create opportunities for practitioners to engage in long-term research and considered thinking,” she added.

Independent Galleries and an Expansion of Institutions

As Saudi artists gained support through Edge of Arabia and Art Jameel, a host of other privately funded players came onto the scene.

In 2009, Athr Gallery in Jeddah was established jointly by Mohammed Hafiz and Hamza Serafi. Now one of the kingdom’s top galleries, which also participates in art fairs throughout the world, including Frieze, Art Dubai, and Art Basel, Athr quickly became an incubator for the Saudi art scene and has worked to foster the careers of some of the country’s emerging and established artists – even during periods that were more restrictive.

“Yes, there are women driving and there are musicians playing, but as for the artists and their practices, the practice remains the same,” said Hafiz in an interview with Artnet News when asked to comment on how the sociopolitical changes were influencing art creation. “There is now a larger space for artistic expression and a large number of new opportunities. [But] I believe that the so-called restrictions have forced artists to think outside the box. When you are an artist here, you find your voice in between these restrictions.”

In 2013 another major private art establishment came into being: the Saudi Art Council. Led by Princess Jawaher bint Majed bin Abdulaziz and a group of art patrons in Jeddah, in 2014 the Saudi Art Council inaugurated its annual curated exhibition week, named 21,39 after the city’s geographical coordinates.

The Saudi Art Council, like Edge of Arabia, became an important entry point for international visitors into the kingdom through the realm of art. At the time, Saudi Arabia was still largely closed off to visitors apart from those traveling for business.

A year later, Hafez Gallery, also in Jeddah, opened. Founded by Qaswra Hafez, the gallery has served as a catalyst for the careers of numerous emerging and pioneering Saudi artists. It too opened during a time when a lack of state patronage was evident.

Its mission was to highlight the Saudi art scene at home and abroad and to foster more local talent. Hafez Gallery, like Athr, has participated in numerous art fairs abroad, including India Art Fair and Art Dubai. Alongside Saudi artists, its roster features established artists from across the Arab world, from Sudan to Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria.

“When we launched, Athr was the only other gallery producing exhibitions of any value, but they were focused on contemporary art, rarely exhibiting any paintings, and that was where my passion was, paintings and the history of Saudi art,” said Hafez. “I saw a niche in the market and that’s how I started.”

Until the last few years, the art scene largely congregated in Jeddah. Yet recent developments due to Vision 2030 and a push to focus on Riyadh have led both public and private institutions, such as Hafez Gallery and Athr, to open additional pop-up and permanent spaces in Riyadh.

Today, the Saudi Ministry of Culture is pushing Saudi art at home and abroad, but if it were not for the base that the grassroot artist community and private players created from the early 2000s, the breadth of Saudi art would not be what it is today.

During a moment of dramatic change in the kingdom, often described as shock and awe, the Saudi state is now filling a vacuum that had been occupied by a handful of privately funded players for decades.

Some artists and observers are concerned the state is playing too big a role and feel that the private market needs to grow on its own. As several of the subjects above have demonstrated, the private market for art in the kingdom is growing, albeit largely now thanks to support from the state. Advisors to the Ministry of Culture state that one of the aims of the body is to foster more awareness and appreciation of art throughout the kingdom and thus encourage the development of a healthy private sector for art. How the new balance between the growing private and public sectors will play out still has yet to be seen. The next few years, especially given the ongoing staging of an increasing number of art events as the Vision 2030 deadline draws near, will dictate the evolving character of the kingdom’s art scene.

With public art events, free and open to all, taking place across the country throughout the year, presenting both Saudi and international contemporary art as well as art influenced by Islamic heritage (as found in the inaugural Islamic Arts Biennale in 2023), such a mission appears to be a growing a reality, bolstered by the handful of strong private platforms that continue to champion art within and outside the kingdom. Yet, many Saudi artists and dealers say that more is needed. With the rate of cultural development in the kingdom taking place at breakneck speed, the future is now for the Saudi art world, thanks to two decades of patient private institutional development and support for the arts.