Christie’s, a market leader in modern and contemporary art, established the highest price ever paid for a painting by an artist from the region when a painting by Fahr El-Nissa Zeid sold for $2.74 million in its Dubai saleroom.

This is the second highest price ever made for a work by a Middle Eastern artist after Parviz Tanavoli’s bronze sculpture Wall (Oh Persepolis) sold in these rooms in 2008 for $2.8 million.

The sale of the piece entitled Break of the Atom and Vegetal Life by Fahr El-Nissa Zeid (Turkish / Jordanian, 1900-1991) also makes her the highest valued female artist from the Middle East far surpassing the previous record for her work of $1 million.

Painted in 1962, it is considered the most important work by the artist. Inspired by a synthesis of Islamic calligraphic aesthetic traditions, Fahr El-Nissa Zeid employs an intricate use of colours and lines in a monumental and harmonious composition whereby purples morph into violets, while greens, reds and blues ring with violent blacks.

The Modern and Contemporary Arab, Iranian and Turkish Art sale will continue today (October 30) at the Jumeirah Emirates Towers Hotel and the part III online-only sale runs until November 11. – TradeArabia News Service