Bonnie Brennan, who has served as Christie's chief executive since February last year, says Abu Dhabi has become a genuine centre of gravity in the global art world. "The market can sustain two centres. We can have a moment in London, but we can also have a moment here," she said in a recent interview.
Christie's will hold its first fine art auction in Abu Dhabi on November 1, and Brennan said the house intends to build a regular auction calendar in the city going forward. The plan also includes giving Middle Eastern artists greater visibility across Christie's international sales, alongside deeper education partnerships with local museums and cultural institutions.
Among the works on offer will be pieces from "Mawasim: 20 Years of Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art," an exhibition spanning 70 works across nine decades. Brennan pointed to strong interest from younger buyers, noting that 47 percent of Christie's new clients in the first half of 2026 were millennials or Gen Z. The house's auction sales for that period reached $3.5 billion, a 71 percent jump year-on-year.
This year also marks 20 years since Christie's first UAE auction, held in Dubai in 2006. Brennan said upcoming milestones — including Frieze's debut Abu Dhabi fair and the December opening of Guggenheim Abu Dhabi — will keep pulling international attention toward the emirate's growing art scene.