Sotheby’s will stage its first live auction in Saudi Arabia in February. The event will also be the “first-ever international auction in the kingdom’s history,” according to a statement from the auction house.

The sale will take place on February 8, 2025, and is titled “Origins.” It will feature art by both Saudi artists and internationally known names, as well as a range of luxury items, including jewelry, watches, cars, sports memorabilia, and handbags.

The auction and a related pre-sale exhibition will be held in the historic Diriyah, where the First Saudi State was inaugurated in 1727.

Sotheby’s leaders said the company was officially incorporated in the country at the end of last year. The auction house plans to open an office in the Riyadh landmark Al Faisaliah Tower, which was designed by Norman Foster.

“We wanted to inaugurate our official new home in Saudi Arabia with a taste of what Sotheby’s can bring to the doorsteps of both those who have started their own collections, and others who are about to enter this world for the first time,” Ashkan Baghestani, Sotheby’s head of sale and contemporary art specialist for the region, said in a statement.

Sotheby’s CEO Charles Stewart said it is “a very dynamic time for culture in Saudi Arabia.” He noted that Sotheby’s has been active there for a number of years and “witnessed the blossoming of the cultural scene with great interest.”

Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, Al Faisaliyah Center, faisaliah tower. Courtesy of Sotheby’s.

The auction house’s ties to the broader Gulf region have also been expanding. In August, Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, ADQ, acquired a minority stake in Sotheby’s. Under the agreement, ADQ, along with Sotheby’s majority owner Patrick Drahi, will bring a new investment of approximately $1 billion to the house.

Sotheby’s moves in Saudi Arabia are the latest sign that the nation has restored its standing with foreign businesses and cultural institutions, following international outcry over the murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in late 2018. At that time, many art institutions distanced themselves from Saudi Arabia. Museums returned funding from the nation; business executives, including then-Sotheby’s CEO Tad Smith, pulled out of Saudi-sponsored conferences; and companies rejected Saudi investment.

In 2018, the U.S. Senate voted to blame Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the death of Khashoggi, a columnist for the Washington Post who had been critical of his regime.

Regarding its decision to expand its business operations in Saudia Arabia now, a spokesperson for the auction house said that, within the last decade, the country has undergone a “sustained period of unprecedented and positive change that is hard to dispute” and that the house’s leadership takes the “momentum established at face value.” They added that the Kingdom has a desire to engage with the international community “and in that, Sotheby’s has a clear role to play.”